Bar chart: Test takers by region

The bar chart compares the number of IELTS candidates from five regions in 2015 and 2022, in thousands.

Overall, the number of test takers increased in four of the five regions, with only Eastern Europe recording a fall. South Asia supplied the most candidates in both years.

South Asia had 380,000 candidates in 2015, far more than any other region, and this grew to 520,000 in 2022. The Middle East was the second-largest source in both years, with numbers rising from 150,000 to 210,000. These two regions therefore remained dominant, although their relative growth of about 40% was not the highest.

The strongest relative growth came from the smaller regions. Central Asia's total more than doubled, from 40,000 to 95,000, while Africa's rose from 70,000 to 120,000, an increase of roughly 70%.

Eastern Europe was the exception. The number of candidates there slipped slightly from 55,000 in 2015 to 50,000 in 2022. As a result, it moved from being larger than Central Asia in 2015 to being the smallest of the five regions in 2022, with Central Asia ahead by 45,000.