PISA: 15-year-olds by science proficiency level (%). Level 3 by country

Countries reporting

Highest

33.8%

Hong Kong

Lowest

6.8%

Tunisia

Median

27.7%

Years covered

2003–2018

Data points

296

What the numbers show

PISA: 15-year-olds by science proficiency level (%). Level 3 is currently reported for 50 countries. The highest value is 33.8% in Hong Kong; the lowest is 6.8% in Tunisia.

The median across all reporting countries is 27.7%, and the mean is 25.0%.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 5.

Over the past decade 16 countries rose and 34 fell. The largest increase was in Qatar (up 73.0%), and the largest decrease in Tunisia (down 33.9%).

PISA: 15-year-olds by science proficiency level (%). Level 3: full country ranking

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	Hong Kong	33.8%	2018	up 15.2%	rising
2	Macao	32.3%	2018	down 14.5%	flat
3	Estonia	32.1%	2018	down 6.4%	falling
4	Slovenia	31.8%	2018	up 10.7%	rising
5	Latvia	31.5%	2018	down 11.4%	flat
7	Denmark	30.1%	2018	down 1.7%	rising
8	Russia	30.0%	2018	up 3.4%	rising
9	Poland	30.0%	2018	down 6.5%	rising
10	Japan	29.7%	2018	up 11.6%	rising
11	Spain	29.4%	2018	down 9.1%	flat
12	Portugal	29.4%	2018	down 9.1%	rising
13	Canada	29.3%	2018	down 6.0%	flat
14	Finland	28.9%	2018	up 0.4%	flat
15	Lithuania	28.7%	2018	down 11.4%	falling
16	Czechia	28.7%	2018	down 0.4%	flat
17	South Korea	28.6%	2018	down 13.8%	falling
18	Norway	28.6%	2018	down 8.1%	flat
19	Belgium	28.4%	2018	up 4.5%	rising
20	France	28.3%	2018	down 1.7%	rising
21	United Kingdom	28.1%	2018	down 2.3%	flat
22	Hungary	28.1%	2018	down 15.4%	falling
23	Sweden	28.0%	2018	down 1.7%	flat
24	Italy	27.8%	2018	down 5.6%	rising
25	Switzerland	27.8%	2018	down 6.8%	flat
26	Iceland	27.7%	2018	down 9.0%	falling
27	Austria	27.6%	2018	up 3.9%	flat
28	United States	27.5%	2018	down 0.2%	rising
29	Australia	27.5%	2018	down 3.3%	flat
30	Turkey	27.3%	2018	up 8.2%	rising
31	Germany	26.9%	2018	down 1.5%	flat
32	Croatia	26.9%	2018	down 13.7%	falling
33	New Zealand	26.8%	2018	up 3.9%	flat
34	Greece	26.0%	2018	down 6.6%	falling
36	Slovakia	25.3%	2018	down 13.4%	falling
37	Netherlands	24.9%	2018	down 7.6%	flat
38	Israel	22.9%	2018	down 5.3%	rising
39	Chile	22.6%	2018	down 4.5%	rising
40	Jordan	20.7%	2018	up 17.7%	rising
41	Romania	18.9%	2018	down 4.0%	rising
42	Uruguay	18.7%	2018	down 4.1%	falling
43	Bulgaria	17.9%	2018	down 14.9%	flat
44	Thailand	17.8%	2018	up 2.0%	rising
45	Qatar	17.0%	2018	up 73.0%	rising
46	Montenegro	15.9%	2018	up 17.1%	rising
47	Mexico	15.5%	2018	down 2.1%	rising
48	Colombia	15.4%	2018	up 17.2%	rising
49	Argentina	15.0%	2018	down 2.7%	rising
50	Brazil	13.9%	2018	up 10.1%	rising
51	Indonesia	9.2%	2018	up 33.2%	rising
52	Tunisia	6.8%	2015	down 33.9%	falling

About this data

Indicator: PISA: 15-year-olds by science proficiency level (%). Level 3
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 484 but less than or equal to 559 on the PISA science scale. At Level 3, students can draw upon moderately complex content knowledge to identify or construct explanations of familiar phenomena. In less familiar or more complex situations, they can construct explanations with relevant cueing or support. They can draw on elements of procedural or epistemic knowledge to carry out a simple experiment in a constrained context. Level 3 students are able to distinguish between scientific and non-scientific issues and identify the evidence supporting a scientific claim. 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/