Hong Kong Posts Record IB Average, Six Points Clear of the World

Hong Kong's international and local schools returned their strongest collective International Baccalaureate performance to date in May 2026, with 2,912 candidates averaging 37.02 points, according to WhichSchoolAdvisor, which tracked results across more than 40 IB World Schools in the city. The pass rate held at 98 percent, and 34.8 percent of all candidates scored 40 points or above. The global mean for May 2026 was 30.88.

The cohort was also notably larger, up around 11 percent from the previous year, absorbing students who joined the city's international sector during and after the COVID disruptions. That the average rose alongside the headcount suggests the growth is coming from the stronger end of the applicant pool rather than from a simple broadening of access.

Who led the city

St. Paul's Co-Educational College set a school record with a 42.6 average across 61 candidates; 91.8 percent of them scored 40 or above and six achieved a perfect 45. German Swiss International School matched 42 points on average, with eight perfect scorers. Victoria Shanghai Academy posted nine perfect 45s among its 122 graduates, also a school record, alongside an average of 39. The English Schools Foundation, which runs seven mainstream IB schools, produced 27 perfect scorers across its network and a network-wide average of 36.4.

In total, 73 students across 17 schools achieved the maximum 45-point score, a figure that underlines how widely distributed top-end performance has become in the city. The results are not confined to a handful of brand-name campuses.

What the gap from the global average means

For families and school operators, the 37-point average carries commercial as well as academic weight. University places at the most selective institutions in the United Kingdom typically require 38 to 40 points; Hong Kong's average sits just below that threshold, meaning a significant share of the cohort is already in contention for offers that most global IB candidates cannot reach. The worldwide mean of 30.88 leaves the typical candidate well short of those minimums.

The results arrive at a time of structural pressure for the city's international school sector. Expatriate numbers have not fully recovered to pre-2019 levels, and competition for the non-local student market has sharpened considerably. Strong academic data remain, for most operators, the most durable argument for retention and new enrolment at a time when fee levels are under scrutiny and the choice of destination cities for corporate relocations is wider than ever.