Skip Navigation
Digest of Education Statistics
2003 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

Table 400. Average reading, mathematics, and science literacy scores of 15-year-olds, by sex and country: 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\1\ ...|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\2\ .|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\3\ ....|---(---)|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\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.
\2\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.
\3\Response rate is too low to ensure comparability with other countries.

NOTE: Scales were designed to have an average score of 500 points and standard deviation of 100. 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.)


2003 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest