Here are the main figures for this year’s GCSE results:

– The proportion of candidates receiving the highest grades has fallen from last year, but remains higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic. A total of 22.0% of entries were awarded 7/A or above, down from 26.3% in 2022 but up from 20.8% in 2019.

– Some 68.2% of entries received a 4/C grade or above. This is down from 73.2% last year, but higher than 67.3% in 2019.

– The overall rate for grades 1/G or above is 98.0%, down from 98.4% in 2022 and also below 98.3% in 2019.

– The lead enjoyed by girls over boys for the top grades has narrowed. The proportion of female entries awarded 7/A or above was 24.9%, 5.8 percentage points higher than male entries (19.1%). This is the narrowest lead enjoyed by girls since 2009. Last year, girls led boys by 7.4 percentage points (30.0% girls, 22.6% boys).

– The gap at grade 4/C has narrowed for the sixth year in a row. A total of 71.7% of female entries were awarded 4/C or higher, compared with 64.9% for boys, a lead of 6.8 points. This is the narrowest lead for girls at 4/C since at least 2000. Last year the gap was 6.9 points.

– The most popular subject in terms of entries this year was science double award, with a total of 935,436 entries, up 3.5% on 2022.

– Maths remains the second most popular subject, with 821,322 entries, up 4.9% on 2022.

– Business studies saw the biggest percentage rise for any subject with at least 100,000 entries, jumping by 14.8% from 107,283 last year to 123,166 this year.

– Statistics saw the biggest percentage rise for any subject with at least 10,000 entries, increasing by 20.4% from 22,066 in 2022 to 26,559 in 2023.

– Music saw the largest percentage fall for any subject with at least 10,000 entries, falling by 12.5% from 37,705 last year to 32,980 this year.

– Overall, there were a total of 5,905,000 GCSE entries, up by 3.4% on last year’s figure of 5,708,871.

– A total of 1,160 16-year-olds in England taking at least seven GCSEs achieved a grade 9 in all their subjects. This is down from 2,193 in 2022 but up from 837 in 2019.