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Digest of Education Statistics
2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 408. Average reading, mathematics, and science literacy scores\1\ of 15-year-olds, by sex: Selected countries, 2000

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                     |           Reading literacy        |      Mathematics literacy           |      Science literacy
                     |___________________________________|_____________________________________|____________________________________
       Country       |Total      | Male      |Female     |Total      | Male       |Female      |Total      | Male       |Female
_____________________|___________|___________|___________|___________|____________|____________|___________|____________|___________
          1          |     2     |     3     |     4     |     5     |     6      |     7      |     8     |     9      |    10
_____________________|___________|___________|___________|___________|____________|____________|___________|____________|___________
OECD total\3\........|   499(2.0)|   485(2.3)|   514(2.0)|   498(2.1)|   504 (2.6)|   493 (2.3)|   502(2.0)|   502 (2.5)|   503(2.0)
OECD average\3\......|   500(0.6)|   485(0.8)|   517(0.7)|   500(0.7)|   506 (1.0)|   495 (0.9)|   500(0.7)|   501 (0.9)|   501(0.8)
                      ___________|___________|___________|___________|____________|____________|___________|____________|___________
Australia............|   528(3.5)|   513(4.0)|   546(4.7)|   533(3.5)|   539 (4.1)|   527 (5.1)|   528(3.5)|   526 (3.9)|   529(4.8)
Austria..............|   507(2.4)|   495(3.2)|   520(3.6)|   515(2.5)|   530 (4.0)|   503 (3.7)|   519(2.6)|   526 (3.8)|   514(4.3)
Belgium..............|   507(3.6)|   492(4.2)|   525(4.9)|   520(3.9)|   524 (4.6)|   518 (5.2)|   496(4.3)|   496 (5.2)|   498(5.6)
Canada...............|   534(1.6)|   519(1.8)|   551(1.7)|   533(1.4)|   539 (1.8)|   529 (1.6)|   529(1.6)|   529 (1.9)|   531(1.7)
Czech Republic.......|   492(2.4)|   473(4.1)|   510(2.5)|   498(2.8)|   504 (4.4)|   492 (3.0)|   511(2.4)|   512 (3.8)|   511(3.2)
                     |           |           |           |           |            |            |           |            |
Denmark..............|   497(2.4)|   485(3.0)|   510(2.9)|   514(2.4)|   522 (3.1)|   507 (3.0)|   481(2.8)|   488 (3.9)|   476(3.5)
Finland..............|   546(2.6)|   520(3.0)|   571(2.8)|   536(2.2)|   537 (2.8)|   536 (2.6)|   538(2.5)|   534 (3.5)|   541(2.7)
France...............|   505(2.7)|   490(3.5)|   519(2.7)|   517(2.7)|   525 (4.1)|   511 (2.8)|   500(3.2)|   504 (4.2)|   498(3.8)
Germany..............|   484(2.5)|   468(3.2)|   502(3.9)|   490(2.5)|   498 (3.1)|   483 (4.0)|   487(2.4)|   489 (3.4)|   487(3.4)
Greece...............|   474(5.0)|   456(6.1)|   493(4.6)|   447(5.6)|   451 (7.7)|   444 (5.4)|   461(4.9)|   457 (6.1)|   464(5.2)
                     |           |           |           |           |            |            |           |            |
Hungary..............|   480(4.0)|   465(5.3)|   496(4.3)|   488(4.0)|   492 (5.2)|   485 (4.9)|   496(4.2)|   496 (5.8)|   497(5.0)
Iceland..............|   507(1.5)|   488(2.1)|   528(2.1)|   514(2.3)|   513 (3.1)|   518 (2.9)|   496(2.2)|   495 (3.4)|   499(3.0)
Ireland..............|   527(3.2)|   513(4.2)|   542(3.6)|   503(2.7)|   510 (4.0)|   497 (3.4)|   513(3.2)|   511 (4.2)|   517(4.2)
Italy................|   487(2.9)|   469(5.1)|   507(3.6)|   457(2.9)|   462 (5.3)|   454 (3.8)|   478(3.1)|   474 (5.6)|   483(3.9)
Japan................|   522(5.2)|   507(6.7)|   537(5.4)|   557(5.5)|   561 (7.3)|   553 (5.9)|   550(5.5)|   547 (7.2)|   554(5.9)
                     |           |           |           |           |            |            |           |            |
Korea, Republic of  .|   525(2.4)|   519(3.8)|   533(3.7)|   547(2.8)|   559 (4.6)|   532 (5.1)|   552(2.7)|   561 (4.3)|   541(5.1)
Luxembourg...........|   441(1.6)|   429(2.6)|   456(2.3)|   446(2.0)|   454 (3.0)|   439 (3.2)|   443(2.3)|   441 (3.6)|   448(3.2)
Mexico...............|   422(3.3)|   411(4.2)|   432(3.8)|   387(3.4)|   393 (4.5)|   382 (3.8)|   422(3.2)|   423 (4.2)|   419(3.9)
Netherlands\4\.......|  ---  --- |   517(4.8)|   547(3.8)|  ---  --- |   569 (4.9)|   558 (4.6)|  ---  --- |   529 (6.3)|   529(5.1)
New Zealand..........|   529(2.8)|   507(4.2)|   553(3.8)|   537(3.1)|   536 (5.0)|   539 (4.1)|   528(2.4)|   523 (4.6)|   535(3.8)
                     |           |           |           |           |            |            |           |            |
Norway...............|   505(2.8)|   486(3.8)|   529(2.9)|   499(2.8)|   506 (3.8)|   495 (2.9)|   500(2.8)|   499 (4.1)|   505(3.3)
Poland...............|   479(4.5)|   461(6.0)|   498(5.5)|   470(5.5)|   472 (7.5)|   468 (6.3)|   483(5.1)|   486 (6.1)|   480(6.5)
Portugal.............|   470(4.5)|   458(5.0)|   482(4.6)|   454(4.1)|   464 (4.7)|   446 (4.7)|   459(4.0)|   456 (4.8)|   462(4.2)
Spain................|   493(2.7)|   481(3.4)|   505(2.8)|   476(3.1)|   487 (4.3)|   469 (3.3)|   491(3.0)|   492 (3.5)|   491(3.6)
Sweden...............|   516(2.2)|   499(2.6)|   536(2.5)|   510(2.5)|   514 (3.2)|   507 (3.0)|   512(2.5)|   512 (3.5)|   513(2.9)
                     |           |           |           |           |            |            |           |            |
Switzerland..........|   494(4.3)|   480(4.9)|   510(4.5)|   529(4.4)|   537 (5.3)|   523 (4.8)|   496(4.4)|   500 (5.7)|   493(4.7)
United Kingdom.......|   523(2.6)|   512(3.0)|   537(3.4)|   529(2.5)|   534 (3.5)|   526 (3.7)|   532(2.7)|   535 (3.4)|   531(4.0)
United States........|   504(7.1)|   490(8.4)|   518(6.2)|   493(7.6)|   497 (8.9)|   490 (7.3)|   499(7.3)|   497 (8.9)|   502(6.5)
                     |           |           |           |           |            |            |           |            |
  Non-OECD countries |           |           |           |           |            |            |           |            |
Brazil...............|   396(3.1)|   388(3.9)|   404(3.4)|   334(3.7)|   349 (4.7)|   322 (4.7)|   375(3.3)|   376 (4.8)|   376(3.8)
Latvia...............|   458(5.3)|   432(5.5)|   485(5.4)|   463(4.5)|   467 (5.3)|   460 (5.6)|   460(5.6)|   449 (6.4)|   472(5.8)
Liechtenstein........|   483(4.1)|   468(7.3)|   500(6.8)|   514(7.0)|   521(11.5)|   510(11.1)|   476(7.1)|   484(10.9)|   468(9.3)
Russian Federation...|   462(4.2)|   443(4.5)|   481(4.1)|   478(5.5)|   478 (5.7)|   479 (6.2)|   460(4.7)|   453 (5.4)|   467(5.2)
                     |           |           |           |           |            |            |           |            |
_____________________|___________|___________|___________|___________|____________|____________|___________|____________|___________

---Not available.
\1\Scales were designed to have an average score of 500 points and standard deviation of 100.
\2\Refers to the mean of the data values for all OECD countries, to which each country contributes equally, regardless of the absolute size of the student population of each country.
\3\Refers to the average for OECD countries as a single entity, to which each country contributes in proportion to the number of 15-year-olds enrolled in its schools.
\4\Response rate is too low to ensure comparability with other countries.

NOTE: Standard errors appear in parentheses.

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), Knowledge and Skills for Life, 2000. (This table was prepared August 2002.)


2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest