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

Countries reporting

Highest

45.0%

Tunisia

Lowest

4.2%

Macao

Median

15.7%

Years covered

2003–2018

Data points

296

What the numbers show

PISA: Female 15-year-olds by science proficiency level (%). Level 1A is currently reported for 52 countries. The highest value is 45.0% in Tunisia; the lowest is 4.2% in Macao.

The median across all reporting countries is 15.7%, and the mean is 18.6%.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 11.

Over the past decade 40 countries rose and 12 fell. The largest increase was in Korea, Rep. (up 139.5%), and the largest decrease in Macao (down 42.6%).

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

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	Tunisia	45.0%	2015	up 25.4%	rising
2	Indonesia	40.1%	2018	down 1.0%	flat
3	Colombia	35.4%	2018	down 1.6%	flat
4	Mexico	34.5%	2018	up 1.6%	rising
5	Brazil	32.7%	2018	down 6.3%	flat
6	Montenegro	31.9%	2018	up 3.9%	flat
7	Argentina	31.0%	2018	up 11.2%	rising
8	Thailand	29.7%	2018	up 1.2%	flat
9	Uruguay	29.2%	2018	up 10.7%	rising
10	Romania	28.0%	2018	down 0.2%	falling
11	Bulgaria	27.1%	2018	up 25.1%	rising
12	Qatar	26.6%	2018	down 13.5%	falling
13	Chile	26.0%	2018	up 5.1%	falling
14	Jordan	24.3%	2018	down 4.6%	flat
15	Greece	21.1%	2018	up 28.2%	rising
16	Turkiye	19.0%	2018	down 8.5%	falling
17	Luxembourg	19.0%	2018	up 22.5%	rising
18	Italy	18.9%	2018	up 39.0%	rising
19	Israel	18.6%	2018	down 4.7%	falling
20	Croatia	18.5%	2018	up 36.1%	rising
21	Slovak Republic	18.4%	2018	up 39.1%	rising
22	Hungary	17.8%	2018	up 84.9%	rising
23	Iceland	17.3%	2018	up 42.1%	rising
24	Russian Federation	16.5%	2018	up 0.5%	flat
25	Spain	15.9%	2018	up 15.6%	flat
26	Lithuania	15.7%	2018	up 41.9%	rising
27	Austria	15.6%	2018	up 15.5%	rising
28	Switzerland	14.6%	2018	up 34.6%	rising
29	France	14.6%	2018	up 23.2%	rising
30	Belgium	14.4%	2018	up 19.1%	rising
31	Portugal	14.3%	2018	up 16.1%	falling
32	Czechia	14.1%	2018	up 14.3%	rising
33	United States	13.8%	2018	down 6.1%	falling
34	Australia	13.6%	2018	up 61.6%	rising
35	Latvia	13.4%	2018	up 22.4%	falling
36	Netherlands	13.4%	2018	up 15.3%	rising
37	Germany	13.3%	2018	up 26.1%	rising
38	Denmark	13.3%	2018	down 0.6%	falling
39	Sweden	13.1%	2018	down 1.0%	rising
40	Norway	12.9%	2018	up 14.0%	falling
41	United Kingdom	12.9%	2018	up 9.3%	rising
42	New Zealand	12.8%	2018	up 53.0%	rising
43	Ireland	12.8%	2018	up 16.2%	rising
44	Poland	10.4%	2018	up 11.0%	falling
45	Korea, Rep.	10.4%	2018	up 139.5%	rising
46	Slovenia	10.1%	2018	up 6.1%	rising
47	Canada	9.5%	2018	up 30.4%	flat
48	Japan	8.2%	2018	up 40.2%	rising
49	Hong Kong	7.7%	2018	up 61.7%	rising
50	Estonia	7.1%	2018	up 2.9%	rising
51	Finland	7.0%	2018	up 91.2%	rising
52	Macao	4.2%	2018	down 42.6%	falling

About this data

Indicator: PISA: Female 15-year-olds by science proficiency level (%). Level 1A
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 female students scoring higher than 335 but less than or equal to 410 on the PISA science scale. At Level 1A, students are able to use basic or everyday content and procedural knowledge to recognise or identify explanations of simple scientific phenomenon. With support, they can undertake structured scientific enquiries with no more than two variables. They are able to identify simple causal or correlational relationships and interpret graphical and visual data that require a low level of cognitive demand. Level 1a students can select the best scientific explanation for given data in familiar personal, local and global contexts. 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/