PISA: 15-year-olds by science proficiency level (%). Level 5 by country
Percentage of 15-year-old students scoring higher than 633 but less than or equal to 708 on the PISA science scale. At Level 5, students can use abstract scientific ideas or concepts to explain unfamiliar and more complex phenomena, events and processes involving multiple causal links. They are able to apply more...
What the numbers show
PISA: 15-year-olds by science proficiency level (%). Level 5 is currently reported for 50 countries. The highest value is 11.9% in Macao; the lowest is 0.0% in Tunisia.
The median across all reporting countries is 4.6%, and the mean is 4.9%.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 304.
Over the past decade 18 countries rose and 31 fell. The largest increase was in Colombia (up 217.2%), and the largest decrease in Tunisia (down 65.2%).
PISA: 15-year-olds by science proficiency level (%). Level 5: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Macao | 11.9% | 2018 | up 162.8% | rising |
| 2 | Japan | 11.4% | 2018 | down 20.7% | falling |
| 3 | Finland | 10.5% | 2018 | down 31.9% | falling |
| 4 | Estonia | 10.2% | 2018 | up 14.4% | rising |
| 5 | South Korea | 10.0% | 2018 | down 5.2% | flat |
| 6 | New Zealand | 9.5% | 2018 | down 31.8% | falling |
| 7 | Canada | 9.5% | 2018 | down 9.6% | falling |
| 8 | Netherlands | 9.1% | 2018 | down 19.0% | falling |
| 9 | Germany | 8.5% | 2018 | down 21.6% | falling |
| 10 | United Kingdom | 8.2% | 2018 | down 13.3% | falling |
| 11 | Poland | 8.1% | 2018 | up 19.8% | rising |
| 12 | Australia | 7.9% | 2018 | down 30.8% | falling |
| 13 | United States | 7.9% | 2018 | down 0.3% | flat |
| 14 | Sweden | 7.3% | 2018 | up 3.6% | falling |
| 15 | Belgium | 7.3% | 2018 | down 19.1% | falling |
| 16 | Hong Kong | 7.1% | 2018 | down 49.7% | falling |
| 17 | Switzerland | 6.9% | 2018 | down 24.6% | falling |
| 18 | Slovenia | 6.7% | 2018 | down 23.0% | falling |
| 19 | Czechia | 6.6% | 2018 | down 8.0% | falling |
| 20 | Norway | 6.1% | 2018 | up 2.6% | rising |
| 21 | France | 5.9% | 2018 | down 19.1% | falling |
| 22 | Austria | 5.8% | 2018 | down 17.2% | falling |
| 24 | Israel | 5.2% | 2018 | up 48.4% | rising |
| 25 | Portugal | 5.1% | 2018 | up 31.6% | rising |
| 26 | Denmark | 5.0% | 2018 | down 14.7% | flat |
| 28 | Hungary | 4.3% | 2018 | down 15.7% | falling |
| 29 | Lithuania | 4.0% | 2018 | down 6.7% | falling |
| 30 | Spain | 3.9% | 2018 | up 3.3% | falling |
| 31 | Iceland | 3.6% | 2018 | down 41.2% | falling |
| 32 | Latvia | 3.5% | 2018 | up 16.3% | falling |
| 33 | Slovakia | 3.4% | 2018 | down 39.0% | falling |
| 34 | Croatia | 3.3% | 2018 | down 4.9% | falling |
| 35 | Russia | 2.9% | 2018 | down 26.6% | falling |
| 36 | Italy | 2.6% | 2018 | down 51.8% | falling |
| 37 | Turkey | 2.3% | 2018 | up 117.7% | volatile |
| 38 | Qatar | 2.0% | 2018 | up 55.2% | rising |
| 39 | Bulgaria | 1.4% | 2018 | down 41.1% | falling |
| 40 | Greece | 1.3% | 2018 | down 54.6% | falling |
| 41 | Chile | 1.0% | 2018 | down 5.8% | falling |
| 42 | Romania | 0.9% | 2018 | up 141.6% | rising |
| 43 | Brazil | 0.8% | 2018 | up 37.3% | flat |
| 44 | Thailand | 0.7% | 2018 | up 19.8% | falling |
| 45 | Uruguay | 0.7% | 2018 | down 51.5% | falling |
| 46 | Jordan | 0.6% | 2018 | up 39.6% | falling |
| 47 | Argentina | 0.5% | 2018 | down 22.7% | rising |
| 48 | Colombia | 0.4% | 2018 | up 217.2% | volatile |
| 49 | Montenegro | 0.3% | 2018 | up 33.5% | rising |
| 50 | Mexico | 0.3% | 2018 | up 29.1% | volatile |
| 51 | Indonesia | 0.1% | 2018 | — | volatile |
| 52 | Tunisia | 0.0% | 2015 | down 65.2% | volatile |
About this data
Percentage of 15-year-old students scoring higher than 633 but less than or equal to 708 on the PISA science scale. At Level 5, students can use abstract scientific ideas or concepts to explain unfamiliar and more complex phenomena, events and processes involving multiple causal links. They are able to apply more sophisticated epistemic knowledge to evaluate alternative experimental designs and justify their choices and use theoretical knowledge to interpret information or make predictions. Level 5 students can evaluate ways of exploring a given question scientifically and identify limitations in interpretations of data sets including sources and the effects of uncertainty in scientific data. 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/