Skip Navigation
small NCES header image
Section Image

Elementary and Secondary Education

Assessments

Excel File Download for Excel |  Back to Indicator
Table A-16-2. Average scores of 15-year-old students on mathematics literacy scale, by sex and country: 2003 and 2009
  2003     2009  
Country Male   Female Male-female score difference     Male   Female   Male-female score difference  
OECD average 506   494   11 *   501   490   12 *  
OECD countries                            
Australia 527   522   5     519   509   10 *  
Austria 509   502   8     506   486   19 *  
Belgium 533   525   8     526   504   22 *  
Canada 541   530   11 *   533   521   12 *  
Chile ―   ―   ―     431   410   21 *  
                             
Czech Republic 524   509   15 *   495   490   5    
Denmark 523   506   17 *   511   495   16 *  
Estonia ―   ―   ―     516   508   9 *  
Finland 548   541   7 *   542   539   3    
France 515   507   9 *   505   489   16 *  
                             
Germany 508   499   9 *   520   505   16 *  
Greece 455   436   19 *   473   459   14 *  
Hungary 494   486   8 *   496   484   12 *  
Iceland 508   523   -15 *   508   505   3    
Ireland 510   495   15 *   491   483   8    
                             
Israel ―   ―   ―     451   443   8    
Italy 475   457   18 *   490   475   15 *  
Japan 539   530   8     534   524   9    
Korea, Republic of 552   528   23 *   548   544   3    
Luxembourg 502   485   17 *   499   479   19 *  
                             
Mexico 391   380   11 *   425   412   14 *  
Netherlands 540   535   5     534   517   17 *  
New Zealand 531   516   14 *   523   515   8    
Norway 498   492   6     500   495   5    
Poland 493   487   6     497   493   3    
                             
Portugal 472   460   12 *   493   481   12 *  
Slovak Republic 507   489   19 *   498   495   3    
Slovenia ―   ―   ―     502   501   1    
Spain 490   481   9 *   493   474   19 *  
Sweden 512   506   7 *   493   495   -2    
                             
Switzerland 535   518   17 *   544   524   20 *  
Turkey 430   415   15 *   451   440   11 *  
United Kingdom1 ‡   ‡   ‡     503   482   20 *  
United States 486   480   6 *   497   477   20 *  
                             
Non-OECD countries                            
Albania ―   ―   ―     372   383   -11 *  
Argentina ―   ―   ―     394   383   10 *  
Azerbaijan ―   ―   ―     435   427   8 *  
Brazil 365   348   16 *   394   379   16 *  
Bulgaria ―   ―   ―     426   430   -4    
                             
Chinese Taipei ―   ―   ―     546   541   5    
Colombia ―   ―   ―     398   366   32 *  
Croatia ―   ―   ―     465   454   11 *  
Dubai-UAE ―   ―   ―     454   451   2    
Hong Kong-China 552   548   4     561   547   14 *  
                             
Indonesia 362   358   3     371   372   -1    
Jordan ―   ―   ―     386   387   #    
Kazakhstan ―   ―   ―     405   405   -1    
Kyrgyz Republic ―   ―   ―     328   334   -6 *  
Latvia 485   482   3     483   481   2    
                             
Liechtenstein 550   521   29 *   547   523   24 *  
Lithuania ―   ―   ―     474   480   -6 *  
Macao-China 538   517   21 *   531   520   11 *  
Montenegro, Republic of2 ―   ―   ―     408   396   12 *  
Panama ―   ―   ―     362   357   5    
                             
Peru ―   ―   ―     374   356   18 *  
Qatar ―   ―   ―     366   371   -5 *  
Romania ―   ―   ―     429   425   3    
Russian Federation 473   463   10 *   469   467   2    
Serbia, Republic of2 437   436   1     448   437   12 *  
                             
Shanghai-China ―   ―   ―     599   601   -1    
Singapore ―   ―   ―     565   559   5 *  
Thailand 415   419   -4     421   417   4    
Trinidad and Tobago ―   ―   ―     410   418   -8 *  
Tunisia 365   353   12 *   378   366   12 *  
Uruguay 428   416   12 *   433   421   12 *  
― Not available.  
# Rounds to zero.  
‡ Reporting standards not met.  
*p<.05. Male average is significantly different from the female average at the05 level of statistical significance.  
1 Because of low response rates, 2003 data for the United Kingdom are not presented.  
2 The Republics of Montenegro and Serbia were a united country under the PISA 2003 assessment.
NOTE: The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) mathematics framework was revised in 2003. Because of changes in the framework, it is not possible to compare mathematics learning outcomes from PISA 2000 with those from PISA 2003, 2006, and 2009. Because PISA is principally an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study, the results for non-OECD countries are displayed separately from those of the OECD countries and are not included in the OECD average. Italics indicate education systems in non-national entities. UAE is the United Arab Emirates. Scores are reported on a scale from 0 to 1,000. For more information on PISA, see supplemental note 5.  
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2004). Learning for Tomorrow's World – First Results from PISA 2003, Table 2.5c. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2010). PISA 2009 Results: What Students Know and Can Do: Student Performance in Reading, Mathematics and Science (Volume I), Table I.3.3.  
Would you like to help us improve our products and website by taking a short survey?

YES, I would like to take the survey

or

No Thanks

The survey consists of a few short questions and takes less than one minute to complete.
National Center for Education Statistics - http://nces.ed.gov
U.S. Department of Education
U.S. Department of Education
Institute of Education Sciences
National Center for Education Statistics
International Year of Statistics 2013 (Statistics2013)
NewsFlash | Staff | Contact | Help | RSS | Privacy Policy
Statistical Standards | FedStats.gov | ChildStats.gov