International Comparison of Math, Reading, and Science Skills Among 15-Year-Olds

Updated August 5, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

More than 250,000 15-year old students from 41 countries participated in the assessment. The countries included all major industrialized nations (results for Britain were not available) and 11 other nations that chose to participate. The test scores are from 2003.

Mean Performance on Mathematics Scale

	Range of ranks¹
Country	Upper rank²	Lower rank³
Hong Kong (China)	1	3
Finland	1	4
South Korea	1	5
Netherlands	2	7
Liechtenstein	2	9
Japan	3	10
Canada	5	9
Belgium	5	10
Macao (China)	6	12
Switzerland	6	12
Australia	9	12
New Zealand	9	13
Czech Republic	12	17
Iceland	13	16
Denmark	13	17
France	14	18
Sweden	15	19
Austria	16	20
Germany	17	21
Ireland	17	21
Slovak Republic	19	24
Norway	21	24
Luxembourg	22	24
Poland	22	26
Hungary	22	27
Spain	25	28
Latvia	25	28
United States	25	28
Russian Federation	29	31
Portugal	29	31
Italy	29	31
Greece	32	33
Serbia	32	34
Turkey	33	36
Uruguay	34	36
Thailand	34	36
Mexico	37	37
Indonesia	38	40
Tunisia	38	40
Brazil	38	40

1. Because data are based on samples, it is not possible to report exact rank order positions for countries. However, it is possible to report the range of rank order positions within which the country mean lies with 95% likelihood.

2. Rank based on top two levels of proficiency (out of six) on mean scale of mathematical performance.

3. Rank based on lowest two levels of proficiency (out of six) on mean scale of mathematical performance.

Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD PISA (Program for Student Assessment) 2003 database.

Mean Performance on Reading Scale

	Range of ranks¹
Country	Upper rank²	Lower rank³
Finland	1	1
South Korea	2	3
Canada	2	5
Australia	3	6
Liechtenstein	2	6
New Zealand	4	7
Ireland	6	10
Sweden	7	10
Netherlands	7	11
Hong Kong (China)	7	12
Belgium	9	12
Norway	11	18
Switzerland	12	20
Japan	12	22
Macao (China)	12	19
Poland	12	21
France	12	22
United States	12	23
Denmark	15	24
Iceland	17	24
Germany	15	24
Austria	14	25
Latvia	14	25
Czech Republic	17	25
Hungary	24	28
Spain	24	29
Luxembourg	25	29
Portugal	25	30
Italy	26	31
Greece	27	31
Slovak Republic	29	31
Russian Federation	32	34
Turkey	32	34
Uruguay	33	34
Thailand	35	36
Serbia	35	37
Brazil	36	38
Mexico	37	38
Indonesia	39	40
Tunisia	39	40

2. Rank based on top two levels of proficiency (out of six) on mean scale of reading performance.

3. Rank based on lowest two levels of proficiency (out of six) on mean scale of reading performance.

Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD PISA (Program for Student Assessment) 2003 database.

Mean Performance on Science Scale

	Range of ranks¹
Country	Upper rank²	Lower rank³
Finland	1	3
Japan	1	3
Hong Kong (China)	2	4
South Korea	2	4
Liechtenstein	5	11
Australia	5	10
Macao (China)	5	10
Netherlands	5	11
Czech Republic	5	11
New Zealand	6	11
Canada	8	12
Switzerland	10	15
France	12	16
Belgium	12	16
Sweden	13	18
Ireland	13	18
Hungary	14	19
Germany	14	21
Poland	17	22
Slovak Republic	18	25
Iceland	19	23
United States	20	27
Austria	19	28
Russian Federation	20	30
Latvia	20	29
Spain	22	29
Italy	22	30
Norway	24	30
Luxembourg	26	30
Greece	25	31
Denmark	30	32
Portugal	31	32
Uruguay	33	35
Serbia	33	36
Turkey	33	36
Thailand	34	36
Mexico	37	37
Indonesia	38	39
Brazil	38	40
Tunisia	39	40