PISA study recorded the lowest average performance levels ever in science, reading and mathematics

The 2025 edition of the PISA study recorded the lowest average performance ever observed across the OECD in three core areas: science, reading, and mathematics.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published the 2025 edition of its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) on 08/09/2026, following a computer-based assessment conducted in May 2025 across 90 countries and economies.

The results show that the Chinese provinces of Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang (B-S-J-Z), and Singapore are the two best-performing education systems across the three subjects. B-S-J-Z, China, recorded the highest average scores in science (597 points) and mathematics (612 points), whilst Singapore achieved the best result in reading (535 points).

The study also shows that reading comprehension is the area that has seen the sharpest decline, with a drop of 28 points across OECD countries between 2015 and 2025. Across non-OECD countries, the decline is 16 points. Between 2022 and 2025, the OECD average fell by 14 points. Japan, South Korea, Ireland and Estonia…