PISA: Female 15-year-olds by reading proficiency level (%). Level 1A by country
Percentage of 15-year-old female students scoring higher than 335 but lower than or equal to 407 on the PISA reading scale. Readers at Level 1a can understand the literal meaning of sentences or short passages. Readers at this level can also recognize the main theme or the author’s purpose in a piece of text about...
What the numbers show
PISA: Female 15-year-olds by reading proficiency level (%). Level 1A is currently reported for 55 countries. The highest value is 19.0% in Tunisia; the lowest is 3.0% in Estonia.
The median across all reporting countries is 6.0%, and the mean is 7.9%.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 6.
Over the past decade 38 countries rose and 5 fell. The largest increase was in South Korea (up 300.0%), and the largest decrease in Spain (down 28.6%).
PISA: Female 15-year-olds by reading proficiency level (%). Level 1A: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tunisia | 19.0% | 2015 | up 26.7% | rising |
| 1 | Thailand | 19.0% | 2018 | up 18.8% | rising |
| 1 | Indonesia | 19.0% | 2018 | up 18.8% | falling |
| 4 | Colombia | 16.0% | 2018 | up 6.7% | rising |
| 5 | Mexico | 15.0% | 2018 | up 25.0% | rising |
| 5 | Albania | 15.0% | 2018 | up 15.4% | falling |
| 7 | Argentina | 14.0% | 2018 | up 7.7% | rising |
| 7 | Peru | 14.0% | 2018 | unchanged | rising |
| 9 | Brazil | 13.0% | 2018 | down 13.3% | falling |
| 10 | Uruguay | 12.0% | 2018 | unchanged | rising |
| 10 | Qatar | 12.0% | 2018 | unchanged | falling |
| 10 | Montenegro | 12.0% | 2018 | unchanged | falling |
| 13 | Jordan | 11.0% | 2018 | unchanged | falling |
| 13 | Bulgaria | 11.0% | 2018 | up 37.5% | flat |
| 15 | Romania | 10.0% | 2018 | unchanged | falling |
| 15 | Chile | 10.0% | 2018 | up 11.1% | falling |
| 17 | Liechtenstein | 8.0% | 2012 | up 19.2% | falling |
| 18 | Slovakia | 8.0% | 2018 | up 60.0% | rising |
| 18 | Turkey | 8.0% | 2018 | up 33.3% | rising |
| 18 | Luxembourg | 8.0% | 2018 | up 33.3% | flat |
| 21 | Austria | 7.0% | 2018 | unchanged | rising |
| 21 | Netherlands | 7.0% | 2018 | up 40.0% | rising |
| 21 | Israel | 7.0% | 2018 | up 16.7% | falling |
| 21 | Greece | 7.0% | 2018 | up 40.0% | rising |
| 21 | Hungary | 7.0% | 2018 | up 75.0% | rising |
| 26 | Lithuania | 6.0% | 2018 | up 20.0% | rising |
| 26 | Switzerland | 6.0% | 2018 | up 50.0% | rising |
| 26 | Portugal | 6.0% | 2018 | up 50.0% | falling |
| 26 | France | 6.0% | 2018 | up 20.0% | rising |
| 26 | Czechia | 6.0% | 2018 | up 20.0% | rising |
| 26 | Latvia | 6.0% | 2018 | up 50.0% | falling |
| 26 | Croatia | 6.0% | 2018 | up 20.0% | rising |
| 26 | Russia | 6.0% | 2018 | down 14.3% | falling |
| 26 | United States | 6.0% | 2018 | up 20.0% | rising |
| 26 | Italy | 6.0% | 2018 | up 20.0% | flat |
| 26 | Belgium | 6.0% | 2018 | up 20.0% | rising |
| 26 | Iceland | 6.0% | 2018 | up 50.0% | rising |
| 38 | United Kingdom | 5.0% | 2018 | unchanged | rising |
| 38 | Australia | 5.0% | 2018 | up 66.7% | rising |
| 38 | Sweden | 5.0% | 2018 | up 25.0% | rising |
| 38 | New Zealand | 5.0% | 2018 | up 66.7% | rising |
| 38 | Spain | 5.0% | 2015 | down 28.6% | falling |
| 38 | Japan | 5.0% | 2018 | up 66.7% | rising |
| 38 | Germany | 5.0% | 2018 | unchanged | falling |
| 45 | Canada | 4.0% | 2018 | up 100.0% | rising |
| 45 | Poland | 4.0% | 2018 | up 33.3% | falling |
| 45 | Norway | 4.0% | 2018 | up 33.3% | falling |
| 45 | Ireland | 4.0% | 2018 | unchanged | rising |
| 45 | South Korea | 4.0% | 2018 | up 300.0% | volatile |
| 45 | Slovenia | 4.0% | 2018 | unchanged | rising |
| 45 | Denmark | 4.0% | 2018 | down 20.0% | falling |
| 52 | Macao | 3.0% | 2018 | down 25.0% | flat |
| 52 | Hong Kong | 3.0% | 2018 | up 50.0% | rising |
| 52 | Finland | 3.0% | 2018 | up 200.0% | rising |
| 52 | Estonia | 3.0% | 2018 | unchanged | flat |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- OECD members 6.0%
About this data
Percentage of 15-year-old female students scoring higher than 335 but lower than or equal to 407 on the PISA reading scale. Readers at Level 1a can understand the literal meaning of sentences or short passages. Readers at this level can also recognize the main theme or the author’s purpose in a piece of text about a familiar topic, and make a simple connection between several adjacent pieces of information, or between the given information and their own prior knowledge. They can select a relevant page from a small set based on simple prompts, and locate one or more independent pieces of information within short texts. Level 1a readers can reflect on the overall purpose and on the relative importance of information (e.g. the main idea vs. non-essential detail) in simple texts containing explicit cues. Most tasks at this level contain explicit cues regarding what needs to be done, how to do it, and where in the text(s) readers should focus their attention. 2000, 2003, and 2006 PISA assessments used a different reading proficiency scale (Levels 1 to 5) than later assessments. PISA 2000/2003/2006 Level 1 data have been included in this database as Level 1A because they are based on an identical score range. Use caution in comparing proficiency scores across years. For more information on comparability of results, consult the PISA website: http://www.oecd.org/pisa/