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MORE than one in five GCSE entries across the UK have achieved a top grade.
This year, 22 per cent of entries were awarded at least a grade 7 or an A, according to data published by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ).
The figure is up slightly from 21.9 per cent last year and remains above the 2019 pre-pandemic level of 20.8 per cent.
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While top grades have increased, the proportion of entries earning at least a grade 4 or C - considered a "standard pass" - has fallen by 0.1 of a per cent.
This year, 67.3 per cent of entries reached this benchmark, down from 67.4 per cent in 2025 and matching the 2019 rate.
The gap in results between boys and girls has shrunk again, and is at its narrowest point since records began in 2000.
Overall, nearly a quarter (24.4%) of girls’ GCSE entries were awarded at least a grade 7/A compared with almost a fifth of boys’ entries (19.6%): a 4.8 percentage point gap, down from a difference of 5.1 last year.
Meanwhile, 70.2% of girls’ GCSE entries were awarded at least a grade 4/C compared with 64.4% of boys’ entries – a 5.8 percentage point gap, a decrease from 6.2 last year.
The regional picture also highlights persistent disparities across England, with London leading the country with 28.6 per cent of entries achieving grade 7 or above, up from 28.4 per cent.
The North East recorded the lowest figure, with 17.7 per cent of entries reaching the top grades, down from 17.8 per cent - a record gap of 10.9 percentage points between the two regions.
Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, said: "It is a damning indictment of 21st-century Britain that where you happen to grow up has such a profound impact on your educational and life chances.
"Something is fundamentally amiss when children with the same talents and potential face such different prospects simply because of where they happen to live.
"England’s educational divide is a story of London increasingly pulling away from much of the rest of the country."
Chris Zarraga, director of Schools North East, stressed that the issue extends beyond the classroom.
He said: "There is not a North-South divide in the quality of schools, nor in the talent, potential or aspirations of young people.
“There is a structural divide in the circumstances and opportunities surrounding them. The regional results table is a map of that divide, not a map of school quality.
“These inequalities are neither inevitable nor acceptable. The Government needs to treat them as a system challenge and address the conditions around schools as well as what happens inside them.
“Results day should reflect young people’s potential and hard work, not the structural advantages or disadvantages of their postcode.”
At a national level, 31.7% of entries in Northern Ireland received grade 7/A or higher, above the equivalent figure for England (21.8%) and Wales (19.6%).
For entries awarded 4/C or higher, Northern Ireland was ahead at 83.6%, some way above England (67.0%) and Wales (62.3%).