PISA: 15-year-olds by science proficiency level (%). Level 2 by country

Countries reporting

Highest

33.9%

Mexico

Lowest

17.2%

Macao

Median

26.0%

Years covered

2003–2018

Data points

296

What the numbers show

PISA: 15-year-olds by science proficiency level (%). Level 2 is currently reported for 50 countries. The highest value is 33.9% in Mexico; the lowest is 17.2% in Macao.

The median across all reporting countries is 26.0%, and the mean is 26.3%.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 2.

Over the past decade 36 countries rose and 14 fell. The largest increase was in Hong Kong (up 43.9%), and the largest decrease in Macao (down 31.6%).

PISA: 15-year-olds by science proficiency level (%). Level 2: full country ranking

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	Mexico	33.9%	2018	up 1.1%	rising
2	Chile	33.1%	2018	down 5.8%	flat
3	Turkey	32.8%	2018	down 5.1%	rising
4	Jordan	32.4%	2018	up 0.5%	flat
5	Russia	31.7%	2018	up 3.4%	rising
6	Thailand	31.7%	2018	down 8.7%	flat
7	Greece	31.6%	2018	up 6.2%	rising
8	Montenegro	31.5%	2018	up 6.8%	flat
9	Uruguay	30.6%	2018	up 4.4%	rising
10	Italy	30.2%	2018	up 18.5%	rising
11	Croatia	30.0%	2018	up 0.0%	flat
12	Romania	29.8%	2018	down 12.8%	flat
13	Colombia	29.6%	2018	down 1.8%	rising
14	Latvia	29.5%	2018	up 1.5%	rising
15	Indonesia	29.2%	2018	up 8.2%	flat
16	Slovakia	28.5%	2018	up 3.4%	rising
17	Spain	28.4%	2018	up 1.6%	rising
18	Lithuania	28.4%	2018	down 2.0%	flat
19	Iceland	28.3%	2018	up 9.7%	rising
20	Argentina	27.0%	2018	up 1.0%	rising
22	Bulgaria	26.7%	2018	up 0.3%	flat
23	Tunisia	26.6%	2015	up 6.4%	rising
24	Denmark	26.6%	2018	up 2.1%	flat
25	Portugal	26.2%	2018	down 9.2%	falling
26	Hungary	26.1%	2018	up 2.4%	flat
27	Czechia	25.9%	2018	up 1.3%	rising
29	Brazil	25.3%	2018	down 12.1%	rising
30	Norway	25.0%	2018	down 6.0%	falling
31	Austria	25.0%	2018	up 4.8%	flat
32	Switzerland	24.9%	2018	up 16.9%	rising
33	Poland	24.9%	2018	down 4.4%	flat
34	Qatar	24.9%	2018	up 32.9%	rising
35	Slovenia	24.6%	2018	up 3.7%	flat
36	France	24.6%	2018	up 11.3%	rising
37	United Kingdom	24.0%	2018	up 5.9%	rising
38	Sweden	24.0%	2018	down 6.4%	flat
39	United States	23.6%	2018	down 5.6%	flat
40	Israel	23.1%	2018	down 11.1%	falling
41	Australia	23.0%	2018	up 15.1%	rising
42	Netherlands	22.4%	2018	up 2.8%	flat
43	Canada	22.4%	2018	up 7.1%	flat
44	Belgium	22.2%	2018	up 7.6%	rising
45	Germany	22.0%	2018	up 9.5%	rising
46	New Zealand	22.0%	2018	up 21.7%	rising
47	Hong Kong	21.7%	2018	up 43.9%	rising
48	Estonia	21.5%	2018	up 0.9%	flat
49	Finland	21.1%	2018	up 38.1%	rising
50	South Korea	21.0%	2018	up 13.3%	rising
51	Japan	19.9%	2018	up 22.3%	rising
52	Macao	17.2%	2018	down 31.6%	falling

About this data

Indicator: PISA: 15-year-olds by science proficiency level (%). Level 2
Source: OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage: 52 places, 296 data points, 2003–2018
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Percentage of 15-year-old students scoring higher than 410 but less than or equal to 484 on the PISA science scale. At Level 2, students are able to draw on everyday content knowledge and basic procedural knowledge to identify an appropriate scientific explanation, interpret data, and identify the question being addressed in a simple experimental design. They can use basic or everyday scientific knowledge to identify a valid conclusion from a simple data set. Level 2 students demonstrate basic epistemic knowledge by being able to identify questions that can be investigated scientifically. Data reflect country performance in the stated year, but may not be comparable across years or countries. Consult the PISA website for more detailed information: http://www.oecd.org/pisa/