The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has officially released a detailed statistical breakdown of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results, providing a comprehensive insight into candidates’ performances nationwide.

According to the figures made available by the Board, a total of 1,955,069 candidates sat for this year’s UTME. Of these, more than 1.5 million candidates scored below 200 — a result that underscores ongoing concerns about academic performance across Nigeria’s secondary education system.

JAMB disclosed that 4,756 candidates scored above 320, while 7,658 candidates achieved scores between 300 and 319. The remaining bulk of candidates fell into lower score brackets, suggesting that only a small percentage met the higher thresholds for top-tier university admissions.

In a notable inclusion this year, 40,247 underage candidates were granted special permission to take the UTME, based on what JAMB described as an opportunity to “demonstrate their exceptional abilities.” However, only 467 of these candidates (1.16%) scored high enough to meet the Board’s criteria for exceptional performance. Their progression to the next three stages of evaluation remains pending.