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

Countries reporting

Highest

26.7%

Turkey

Lowest

12.4%

Macao

Median

21.4%

Years covered

2003–2018

Data points

303

What the numbers show

PISA: Male 15-year-olds by mathematics proficiency level (%). Level 2 is currently reported for 53 countries. The highest value is 26.7% in Turkey; the lowest is 12.4% in Macao.

The median across all reporting countries is 21.4%, and the mean is 21.3%.

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

Over the past decade 26 countries rose and 27 fell. The largest increase was in Qatar (up 43.3%), and the largest decrease in Macao (down 32.3%).

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

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	Turkey	26.7%	2018	up 7.0%	rising
2	Mexico	26.6%	2018	down 6.4%	rising
3	Croatia	26.4%	2018	up 2.5%	flat
4	Montenegro	26.4%	2018	up 4.4%	rising
5	Uruguay	25.7%	2018	up 3.2%	flat
6	Greece	25.2%	2018	up 2.1%	flat
7	Chile	25.0%	2018	down 10.6%	falling
8	Latvia	24.6%	2018	down 6.9%	flat
9	Romania	23.9%	2018	down 12.3%	falling
10	Russia	23.7%	2018	down 15.8%	falling
11	Ireland	23.6%	2018	up 3.5%	flat
12	Spain	23.4%	2018	up 3.6%	flat
13	Lithuania	23.3%	2018	down 10.0%	falling
14	Jordan	23.0%	2018	down 0.5%	flat
15	Bulgaria	23.0%	2018	up 2.1%	rising
16	Serbia	23.0%	2018	down 9.2%	falling
17	Finland	23.0%	2018	up 42.4%	rising
18	Hungary	22.9%	2018	up 4.0%	flat
19	Colombia	22.7%	2018	down 5.5%	flat
20	Thailand	22.6%	2018	down 15.9%	falling
21	United States	22.5%	2018	down 1.4%	flat
22	Australia	22.3%	2018	up 17.0%	rising
23	Iceland	21.7%	2018	up 9.9%	rising
24	New Zealand	21.6%	2018	up 18.9%	rising
25	Sweden	21.5%	2018	down 7.6%	flat
26	Czechia	21.4%	2018	down 12.2%	flat
27	Denmark	21.4%	2018	down 1.6%	rising
28	Slovenia	21.2%	2018	down 2.9%	falling
29	Norway	21.2%	2018	down 10.5%	falling
30	Luxembourg	21.1%	2018	up 3.7%	flat
31	Slovakia	20.9%	2018	down 8.8%	flat
32	Argentina	20.9%	2018	down 0.4%	rising
33	United Kingdom	20.7%	2018	down 9.3%	flat
34	Italy	20.6%	2018	down 9.1%	falling
35	Poland	20.5%	2018	down 9.6%	falling
36	France	20.4%	2018	up 14.1%	rising
37	Canada	20.2%	2018	up 13.5%	rising
38	Austria	20.1%	2018	up 0.9%	flat
39	Estonia	19.9%	2018	down 7.8%	falling
40	Germany	19.8%	2018	up 11.4%	rising
41	Portugal	19.7%	2018	down 11.7%	falling
42	Netherlands	19.0%	2018	up 5.5%	rising
43	Israel	18.9%	2018	down 4.0%	falling
44	Switzerland	18.9%	2018	up 30.3%	rising
45	Brazil	18.5%	2018	down 9.1%	rising
46	Belgium	18.4%	2018	up 8.0%	rising
47	Qatar	17.6%	2018	up 43.3%	rising
48	Indonesia	17.6%	2018	up 11.3%	rising
49	Japan	17.5%	2018	up 4.7%	flat
50	Tunisia	17.3%	2015	down 3.0%	rising
51	South Korea	16.9%	2018	up 14.4%	rising
52	Hong Kong	14.1%	2018	up 13.7%	rising
53	Macao	12.4%	2018	down 32.3%	falling

About this data

Indicator: PISA: Male 15-year-olds by mathematics proficiency level (%). Level 2
Source: OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage: 53 places, 303 data points, 2003–2018
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Percentage of 15-year-old male students scoring higher than 420 but lower than or equal to 482 points on the PISA mathematics scale. At Level 2, students can interpret and recognize situations in contexts that require no more than direct inference. They can extract relevant information from a single source and make use of a single representational mode. Students at this level can employ basic algorithms, formulae, procedures, or conventions to solve problems involving whole numbers. They are capable of making literal interpretations of the results. Data reflects country performance in the stated year according to PISA reports, but may not be comparable across years or countries. Consult the PISA website for more detailed information: http://www.oecd.org/pisa/