PISA: Male 15-year-olds by science proficiency level (%). Level 3 by country

Countries reporting

Highest

32.1%

Hong Kong

Lowest

7.4%

Tunisia

Median

26.5%

Years covered

2003–2018

Data points

296

What the numbers show

PISA: Male 15-year-olds by science proficiency level (%). Level 3 is currently reported for 52 countries. The highest value is 32.1% in Hong Kong; the lowest is 7.4% in Tunisia.

The median across all reporting countries is 26.5%, and the mean is 24.0%.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 4.

Over the past decade 19 countries rose and 33 fell. The largest increase was in Qatar (up 65.0%), and the largest decrease in Tunisia (down 24.4%).

PISA: Male 15-year-olds by science proficiency level (%). Level 3: full country ranking

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	Hong Kong	32.1%	2018	up 15.3%	rising
2	Estonia	31.7%	2018	down 4.0%	falling
3	Macao	30.7%	2018	down 15.4%	falling
4	Slovenia	30.3%	2018	up 12.7%	rising
5	Ireland	30.0%	2018	up 2.6%	flat
6	Latvia	29.7%	2018	down 12.6%	flat
7	Russia	29.7%	2018	up 4.8%	rising
8	Denmark	28.8%	2018	down 4.6%	rising
9	Spain	28.3%	2018	down 9.7%	flat
10	Czechia	28.1%	2018	down 3.2%	flat
11	Portugal	28.1%	2018	down 9.6%	flat
12	Poland	28.1%	2018	down 5.6%	rising
13	Canada	27.9%	2018	down 6.3%	rising
14	Hungary	27.8%	2018	down 13.8%	flat
15	Italy	27.8%	2018	up 1.1%	rising
16	Japan	27.7%	2018	up 12.0%	rising
17	United Kingdom	27.7%	2018	up 0.2%	rising
18	Belgium	27.4%	2018	up 6.3%	rising
19	South Korea	27.2%	2018	down 13.3%	falling
20	Finland	27.0%	2018	down 5.7%	flat
21	Sweden	27.0%	2018	down 2.0%	flat
22	Switzerland	26.8%	2018	down 6.5%	flat
23	Lithuania	26.7%	2018	down 13.9%	falling
24	France	26.7%	2018	down 0.0%	rising
25	Australia	26.6%	2018	down 0.5%	flat
26	Norway	26.6%	2018	down 12.2%	flat
27	United States	26.4%	2018	down 2.6%	rising
28	Iceland	26.0%	2018	down 10.4%	falling
29	Turkey	26.0%	2018	up 11.3%	rising
30	Germany	25.7%	2018	down 0.9%	rising
31	New Zealand	25.6%	2018	up 9.5%	flat
32	Austria	25.6%	2018	up 3.0%	flat
33	Croatia	25.3%	2018	down 13.6%	falling
34	Luxembourg	25.1%	2018	down 5.0%	falling
35	Netherlands	23.9%	2018	down 11.6%	falling
36	Greece	23.7%	2018	down 9.5%	falling
37	Slovakia	23.1%	2018	down 16.2%	falling
38	Chile	22.9%	2018	down 8.4%	flat
39	Israel	19.5%	2018	down 14.3%	flat
40	Uruguay	19.0%	2018	down 3.7%	flat
41	Romania	18.8%	2018	up 5.0%	rising
42	Jordan	17.3%	2018	up 26.0%	flat
43	Colombia	17.2%	2018	up 9.3%	rising
44	Mexico	16.5%	2018	down 4.2%	rising
45	Bulgaria	15.9%	2018	down 16.0%	flat
46	Montenegro	15.9%	2018	up 28.6%	rising
47	Argentina	15.7%	2018	up 4.6%	rising
48	Thailand	15.0%	2018	down 8.7%	flat
49	Brazil	14.0%	2018	up 9.8%	rising
50	Qatar	13.8%	2018	up 65.0%	rising
51	Indonesia	8.8%	2018	up 41.5%	flat
52	Tunisia	7.4%	2015	down 24.4%	falling

About this data

Indicator: PISA: Male 15-year-olds by science proficiency level (%). Level 3
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 484 but less than or equal to 559 on the PISA science scale. At Level 3, students can draw upon moderately complex content knowledge to identify or construct explanations of familiar phenomena. In less familiar or more complex situations, they can construct explanations with relevant cueing or support. They can draw on elements of procedural or epistemic knowledge to carry out a simple experiment in a constrained context. Level 3 students are able to distinguish between scientific and non-scientific issues and identify the evidence supporting a scientific claim. 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/