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The National Eligibility and Admission Test (NEET) UG exam will soon be conducted for the 2026 session. As one of the most competitive medical exams, learning about the past data of those who appeared vs those who qualified will greatly help in assessing competitiveness and NEET cutoff trends for this year. For NEET UG 2026 aspirants, we have prepared Year-wise Qualified vs Appeared Candidates based on 2018–2025 Data Analysis. Candidates can use this data to analyze, estimate and strategize their preparation for the upcoming exam.
NEET UG 2026: 2018–2025 Data Analysis
Over the past eight years, the number of participants for NEET UG for medical has grown in large numbers, offering a clear view of how demanding MBBS degree is even to this date. Given here is a detailed analysis based on past trends, and NTA official figures.
Year | Candidates Appeared | Candidates Qualified |
2018 | 12,69,922 | 7,14,562 |
2019 | 14,10,755 | 7,97,042 |
2020 | 13,66,945 | 7,71,500 |
2021 | 15,44,275 | 8,70,074 |
2022 | 17,64,571 | 9,93,069 |
2023 | 20,38,596 | 11,45,976 |
2024 | 23,33,297 | 13,15,853 |
2025 | 22,09,318 | 12,36,531 |
Analysis of NEET UG
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Exponential Growth: Registrations nearly quadrupled in six years, reaching over 23.3 lakh in 2024 before slightly declining in 2025.
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Stable Qaulifying Percentage: Despite an increase in applicants, the qualification percentage stays around 56% due to the 50th percentile threshold.\
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Seats Availability: In 2025, around 12.3 lakh students qualified for MBBS, but there are only around 1.1 lakh places available nationwide.
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The 8% Rule: "Qualifying" is rarely enough; typically, only the top 5-8% of qualifiers are accepted into government medical colleges.
The process of “Appearing’ to "Qualified" is very tedious. Only few get the opportunity to go there but in that few getting "Selected" is the true difficulty. As the NEET UG 2026 exam is upcoming, the competition is high. The applicants should focus on important topics and consistent mock exam practice to achieve a seat among the top few.
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