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

Countries reporting

Highest

34.2%

Mexico

Lowest

17.7%

Macao

Median

25.4%

Years covered

2003–2018

Data points

296

What the numbers show

PISA: Male 15-year-olds by science proficiency level (%). Level 2 is currently reported for 52 countries. The highest value is 34.2% in Mexico; the lowest is 17.7% in Macao.

The median across all reporting countries is 25.4%, and the mean is 25.7%.

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

Over the past decade 35 countries rose and 17 fell. The largest increase was in Hong Kong (up 49.7%), and the largest decrease in Macao (down 29.7%).

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

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	Mexico	34.2%	2018	up 3.9%	rising
2	Turkey	31.9%	2018	down 5.3%	rising
3	Chile	31.5%	2018	down 6.8%	flat
4	Russia	31.1%	2018	up 2.2%	rising
5	Greece	31.0%	2018	up 7.1%	rising
6	Jordan	30.2%	2018	up 4.7%	flat
7	Croatia	29.8%	2018	down 1.6%	flat
8	Colombia	29.7%	2018	down 10.0%	flat
9	Uruguay	29.6%	2018	up 5.9%	rising
10	Montenegro	29.6%	2018	up 8.2%	flat
11	Thailand	29.5%	2018	down 7.7%	flat
12	Italy	29.1%	2018	up 17.9%	rising
13	Slovakia	29.0%	2018	up 5.3%	rising
14	Latvia	28.8%	2018	down 0.2%	rising
15	Romania	28.5%	2018	down 12.2%	flat
16	Spain	27.6%	2018	up 5.3%	rising
17	Argentina	27.5%	2018	up 8.8%	rising
18	Lithuania	27.5%	2018	down 9.0%	flat
19	Iceland	27.1%	2018	up 13.4%	rising
20	Tunisia	27.0%	2015	up 10.2%	rising
21	Ireland	26.7%	2018	up 16.7%	rising
22	Indonesia	26.6%	2018	up 7.3%	falling
23	Czechia	26.2%	2018	up 1.6%	rising
24	Hungary	25.7%	2018	up 5.4%	flat
25	Luxembourg	25.4%	2018	up 13.9%	rising
26	Denmark	25.4%	2018	down 0.2%	flat
27	Bulgaria	25.4%	2018	up 2.8%	rising
28	Slovenia	25.1%	2018	up 4.1%	flat
29	Portugal	25.0%	2018	down 10.3%	falling
30	Poland	24.6%	2018	down 4.5%	flat
31	Switzerland	24.5%	2018	up 14.6%	rising
32	Norway	24.4%	2018	down 7.0%	falling
33	France	24.3%	2018	up 17.2%	rising
34	Brazil	24.3%	2018	down 15.4%	flat
35	Sweden	24.1%	2018	down 4.5%	flat
36	Austria	23.9%	2018	up 7.1%	flat
37	United Kingdom	23.8%	2018	up 9.1%	rising
38	Netherlands	22.9%	2018	up 3.2%	flat
39	Finland	22.9%	2018	up 29.9%	rising
40	United States	22.7%	2018	down 3.0%	flat
41	Hong Kong	22.5%	2018	up 49.7%	rising
42	Canada	22.3%	2018	up 10.2%	rising
43	Australia	22.1%	2018	up 14.4%	rising
44	Estonia	22.0%	2018	up 1.2%	flat
45	Belgium	22.0%	2018	up 9.6%	rising
46	Germany	21.5%	2018	up 8.1%	rising
47	South Korea	20.7%	2018	up 8.6%	flat
48	Israel	20.6%	2018	down 15.4%	falling
49	New Zealand	20.5%	2018	up 14.1%	rising
50	Qatar	19.8%	2018	up 31.5%	rising
51	Japan	18.9%	2018	up 12.8%	rising
52	Macao	17.7%	2018	down 29.7%	falling

About this data

Indicator: PISA: Male 15-year-olds by science proficiency level (%). Level 2
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 male students scoring higher than 410 but less than or equal to 484 on the PISA science scale. At Level 2, students are able to draw on everyday content knowledge and basic procedural knowledge to identify an appropriate scientific explanation, interpret data, and identify the question being addressed in a simple experimental design. They can use basic or everyday scientific knowledge to identify a valid conclusion from a simple data set. Level 2 students demonstrate basic epistemic knowledge by being able to identify questions that can be investigated scientifically. 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/