Percentage of 15-year-old students in PISA on reading literacy scale, by selected proficiency level ranges and country: 2009

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Table B.1.51.

Percentage of 15-year-old students in PISA on reading literacy scale, by selected proficiency level ranges and country: 2009

Country	Below level 2			Level 4 and above			Level 5 and above
Country	Percent		s.e.	Percent		s.e.	Percent			s.e.
OECD average	19		0.2	28		0.2	8		*	0.1
OECD countries
Australia	14	*	0.6	37	*	1.0	13		*	0.8
Austria	28	*	1.3	22	*	1.1	5		*	0.5
Belgium	18		0.9	36	*	0.9	11			0.6
Canada	10	*	0.5	40	*	0.8	13		*	0.5
Chile	31	*	1.5	11	*	0.9	1		*	0.3
Czech Republic	23	*	1.3	23	*	1.1	5		*	0.5
Denmark	15		0.9	26	*	1.2	5		*	0.5
Estonia	13	*	1.0	27		1.1	6		*	0.6
Finland	8	*	0.5	45	*	1.2	15		*	0.8
France	20		1.2	32		1.4	10			1.0
Germany	19		1.1	31		1.1	8		*	0.6
Greece	21		1.8	24	*	1.1	6		*	0.5
Hungary	18		1.4	28		1.5	6		*	0.7
Iceland	17		0.6	30		0.8	9			0.6
Ireland	17		1.1	29		1.2	7		*	0.5
Israel	27	*	1.2	26	*	1.1	7		*	0.6
Italy	21	*	0.6	26	*	0.6	6		*	0.3
Japan	14	*	1.1	40	*	1.3	13		*	0.9
Korea, Republic of	6	*	0.8	46	*	2.0	13		*	1.1
Luxembourg	26	*	0.6	23	*	0.5	6		*	0.5
Mexico	40	*	1.0	6	*	0.4	#		*	†
Netherlands	14		1.5	33		2.3	10			1.1
New Zealand	14	*	0.8	41	*	1.0	16		*	0.8
Norway	15		0.8	31		1.2	8			0.9
Poland	15		0.8	30		1.3	7		*	0.6
Portugal	18		1.2	24	*	1.2	5		*	0.5
Slovak Republic	22	*	1.2	21	*	0.9	5		*	0.5
Slovenia	21	*	0.6	24	*	0.7	5		*	0.5
Spain	20		0.9	21	*	0.7	3		*	0.3
Sweden	17		0.9	29		1.2	9			0.7
Switzerland	17		0.9	31		1.1	8			0.7
Turkey	25	*	1.4	14	*	1.4	2		*	0.4
United Kingdom	18		0.8	28		1.0	8			0.5
United States	18		1.1	30		1.5	10			0.9

Non-OECD countries
Albania	57	*	1.9	3	*	0.5	‡			†
Argentina	52	*	1.9	7	*	1.0	1			0.2
Azerbaijan	73	*	1.6	1	!*	0.2	#			†
Brazil	50	*	1.3	7	*	0.7	1		*	0.2
Bulgaria	41	*	2.6	14	*	1.5	3		*	0.5
Chinese Taipei	16		0.9	26	*	1.3	5		*	0.9
Colombia	47	*	1.9	5	*	0.6	1		*	0.2
Croatia	22	*	1.3	20	*	1.1	3		*	0.4
Dubai-UAE	31	*	0.5	20	*	0.6	5		*	0.5
Hong Kong-China	8	*	0.7	44	*	1.1	12		*	0.8
Indonesia	53	*	2.3	1	!*	0.3	#			†
Jordan	48	*	1.6	4	*	0.5	#		*	†
Kazakhstan	59	*	1.5	4	*	0.5	#		*	†
Kyrgyz Republic	83	*	1.2	1	*	0.3	‡			†
Latvia	18		1.2	20	*	1.3	3		*	0.4
Liechtenstein	16		1.8	29		2.5	5	!	*	1.4
Lithuania	24	*	1.2	17	*	0.9	3		*	0.4
Macao-China	15	*	0.5	20	*	0.5	3		*	0.2
Montenegro, Republic of	50	*	1.0	6	*	0.4	1		*	0.2
Panama	65	*	2.6	4	*	0.7	1	!	*	0.2
Peru	65	*	1.7	3	*	0.6	1	!	*	0.2
Qatar	64	*	0.5	7	*	0.3	2		*	0.2
Romania	40	*	2.0	7	*	0.8	1		*	0.2
Russian Federation	27	*	1.3	14	*	0.9	3		*	0.5
Serbia, Republic of	33	*	1.3	9	*	0.6	1		*	0.2
Shanghai-China	4	*	0.5	54	*	1.3	20		*	1.1
Singapore	13	*	0.5	41	*	0.8	16		*	0.5
Thailand	43	*	1.5	4	*	0.6	‡			†
Trinidad and Tobago	45	*	0.7	11	*	0.5	2		*	0.3
Tunisia	50	*	1.6	3	*	0.6	‡			†
Uruguay	42	*	1.2	10	*	0.6	2		*	0.3
† Not applicable.
# Rounds to zero.
! Interpret data with caution.
‡ Reporting standards not met.
*p < .05. Significantly different from the U.S. average at the .05 level of statistical significance.
NOTE: To reach a particular proficiency level, a student must correctly answer a majority of items at that level. Students were classified into reading literacy levels according to their scores. Exact cut point scores are as follows: below level 2 (a score less than 407.47); level 4 and above (a score greater than .552.89); and level 5 and above (a score greater than 625.61). Scores are reported on a scale from 0 to 1,000. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average is the average of the national percentages of the OECD member countries, with each country weighted equally. Because the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is principally an OECD study, the results for non-OECD countries are displayed separately from those of the OECD countries. Standard error is noted by s.e. In the country column, italics indicate non-national entities. UAE refers to United Arab Emirates.
SOURCE: Fleischman, H.L., Hopstock, P. J., Pelczar, M.P, and Shelly, B.E. (2010). Highlights From PISA 2009: Performance of U.S. 15-Year-Old Students in Reading, Mathematics, and Science Literacy in an International Context (NCES 2011-004), supplemental table R7a. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.