PISA: 15-year-olds by mathematics proficiency level (%). Level 1 by country

Countries reporting

Highest

31.3%

Indonesia

Lowest

4.0%

Macao

Median

14.8%

Years covered

2003–2018

Data points

303

What the numbers show

PISA: 15-year-olds by mathematics proficiency level (%). Level 1 is currently reported for 51 countries. The highest value is 31.3% in Indonesia; the lowest is 4.0% in Macao.

The median across all reporting countries is 14.8%, and the mean is 17.3%.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 8.

Over the past decade 23 countries rose and 28 fell. The largest increase was in Finland (up 81.3%), and the largest decrease in Macao (down 51.4%).

PISA: 15-year-olds by mathematics proficiency level (%). Level 1: full country ranking

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	Indonesia	31.3%	2018	down 5.6%	rising
2	Mexico	30.3%	2018	up 4.9%	rising
3	Colombia	29.9%	2018	down 5.5%	rising
4	Jordan	28.6%	2018	down 4.3%	flat
5	Argentina	28.5%	2018	up 8.0%	rising
6	Thailand	27.7%	2018	down 8.9%	falling
7	Tunisia	27.4%	2015	up 14.1%	rising
8	Chile	27.2%	2018	down 7.3%	flat
9	Brazil	27.1%	2018	down 12.7%	rising
10	Montenegro	26.3%	2018	down 8.7%	falling
11	Uruguay	26.1%	2018	up 6.0%	rising
12	Qatar	24.0%	2018	up 5.7%	rising
13	Romania	23.9%	2018	down 12.8%	falling
14	Turkey	22.9%	2018	down 6.5%	flat
15	Bulgaria	22.5%	2018	down 0.8%	falling
16	Serbia	21.6%	2018	down 5.7%	falling
17	Greece	20.5%	2018	up 7.6%	flat
18	Croatia	20.2%	2018	down 2.9%	flat
19	United States	16.9%	2018	up 10.8%	rising
20	Israel	16.4%	2018	down 13.6%	falling
21	Lithuania	16.4%	2018	down 5.4%	flat
23	Hungary	16.1%	2018	up 13.0%	rising
24	Spain	16.0%	2018	up 9.5%	flat
25	Russia	14.9%	2018	down 21.7%	falling
26	Australia	14.8%	2018	up 37.6%	rising
27	Italy	14.8%	2018	down 7.0%	falling
28	Slovakia	14.4%	2018	up 2.4%	rising
29	New Zealand	14.2%	2018	up 39.9%	rising
30	Portugal	14.0%	2018	down 8.7%	falling
31	Austria	13.8%	2018	down 10.6%	rising
32	Czechia	13.8%	2018	down 10.1%	rising
33	Germany	13.5%	2018	up 11.0%	flat
34	Iceland	13.3%	2018	up 18.3%	rising
35	France	13.2%	2018	up 1.1%	rising
36	Latvia	12.9%	2018	down 22.8%	falling
37	Sweden	12.8%	2018	down 5.4%	rising
38	United Kingdom	12.8%	2018	down 8.1%	flat
39	Belgium	12.8%	2018	up 12.9%	rising
40	Norway	12.4%	2018	down 2.3%	falling
41	Switzerland	12.0%	2018	up 34.0%	rising
43	Slovenia	11.7%	2018	down 15.6%	falling
44	Canada	11.3%	2018	up 35.3%	rising
45	Netherlands	11.2%	2018	up 5.9%	rising
46	Finland	11.1%	2018	up 81.3%	rising
47	Denmark	10.9%	2018	down 10.4%	flat
48	Poland	10.5%	2018	down 26.8%	falling
49	South Korea	9.6%	2018	up 54.7%	rising
50	Japan	8.6%	2018	up 0.8%	falling
51	Estonia	8.1%	2018	down 15.6%	falling
52	Hong Kong	6.4%	2018	up 3.5%	flat
53	Macao	4.0%	2018	down 51.4%	falling

About this data

Indicator: PISA: 15-year-olds by mathematics proficiency level (%). Level 1
Source: OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage: 53 places, 303 data points, 2003–2018
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Percentage of 15-year-old students scoring higher than 358 but lower than or equal to 420 points on the PISA mathematics scale. At Level 1, students can answer questions involving familiar contexts where all relevant information is present and the questions are clearly defined. They are able to identify information and to carry out routine procedures according to direct instructions in explicit situations. They can perform actions that are almost always obvious and follow immediately from the given stimuli. Data reflects country performance in the stated year according to PISA reports, but may not be comparable across years or countries. Consult the PISA website for more detailed information: http://www.oecd.org/pisa/