Short Answer
More than 700,000 people took the DET in 2024 alone — a roughly 130% increase over the prior three years. Test-taker numbers have grown steadily since the test launched, accelerating sharply once traditional test centers closed during the pandemic.
The Growth Trajectory
| Year | Approximate Test Takers |
|---|---|
| 2019 | ~15,000–17,000 |
| 2020 | ~300,000–345,000 |
| 2024 | 700,000+ |
That's roughly 2,000% growth between 2019 and 2020 alone, driven largely by pandemic-era test center closures for IELTS and TOEFL, followed by continued steady growth as more universities added the DET to their accepted test list.
Where Test Takers Come From
The DET is taken in over 12,000 cities worldwide, with India and China representing the largest single markets by volume. Test-taker goals vary by country — Indian test takers skew heavily toward postgraduate study, while test takers in China, the US, Canada, and Brazil more often apply for undergraduate programs.
How Many Institutions Accept It
Growth on the test-taker side has been matched by growth in acceptance: the DET is now accepted by more than 6,000 programs worldwide, including all 8 Ivy League universities and 98 of the top 100 US News-ranked national universities.
What This Means for You
The DET is no longer a niche or experimental alternative to IELTS and TOEFL — it's a mainstream option used by hundreds of thousands of applicants a year and accepted at nearly every tier of university. If you're deciding whether it's "legitimate" enough for a competitive application, the volume and acceptance data both say yes.
Related Reading
For a full list of universities accepting the DET, see our university acceptance registry.