Program for International Student Assessment (PISA): 2015 Results

Mathematics Literacy: Proficiency Levels

Overall

Table M2. Percentage distribution of 15-year-old students on the PISA mathematics literacy scale, by proficiency level and education system: 2015
Education system	Below level 1		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Level 4			Level 5			Level 6
Education system	Percent	*s.e.*	Percent	*s.e.*	Percent	*s.e.*	Percent	*s.e.*	Percent		*s.e.*	Percent		*s.e.*	Percent		*s.e.*
OECD average	8.5	0.12	14.9	0.13	22.5	0.15	24.8	0.15	18.6		0.14	8.4		0.10	2.3		0.06
Albania	26.3	1.49	27.0	1.54	25.4	1.18	14.8	0.96	5.4		0.62	1.0		0.26	‡		0.08
Algeria	50.6	1.69	30.4	0.92	14.2	0.96	4.0	0.53	0.8		0.23	0.1		0.05	‡		†
Australia	7.6	0.43	14.4	0.45	22.6	0.70	25.4	0.61	18.7		0.54	8.6		0.48	2.7		0.28
Austria	7.8	0.71	13.9	0.68	21.3	0.82	24.6	0.85	19.9		0.85	9.7		0.69	2.7		0.40
B-S-J-G (China)	5.8	0.71	10.0	0.85	16.3	0.95	20.5	0.94	21.8		0.95	16.6		1.08	9.0		1.09
Belgium	7.2	0.61	12.9	0.61	18.8	0.82	23.4	0.73	21.8		0.70	12.3		0.51	3.6		0.35
Brazil	43.7	1.34	26.5	0.79	17.2	0.70	8.6	0.54	3.1		0.36	0.8		0.17	‡		†
Buenos Aires (Argentina)	13.8	2.09	20.2	2.36	27.0	1.97	22.3	1.92	12.5		1.79	3.5		0.96	‡		†
Bulgaria	20.8	1.49	21.2	1.08	23.7	1.00	19.3	0.98	10.6		0.82	3.6		0.47	0.8	!	0.25
Canada	3.8	0.35	10.5	0.50	20.4	0.60	27.1	0.65	23.0		0.74	11.4		0.56	3.7		0.34
Chile	23.0	1.09	26.3	0.99	25.5	0.78	17.4	0.88	6.4		0.54	1.3		0.21	#	!	†
Chinese Taipei	4.4	0.41	8.3	0.51	14.6	0.68	21.2	0.85	23.3		0.90	18.0		0.65	10.1		0.92
Colombia	35.4	1.28	30.9	0.77	21.5	0.82	9.5	0.57	2.4		0.25	#		†	‡		†
Costa Rica	27.4	1.16	35.1	0.98	25.8	1.01	9.4	0.77	2.0		0.35	#		†	‡		†
Croatia	11.5	0.92	20.5	0.80	26.3	0.86	23.0	0.83	13.1		0.77	4.6		0.47	1.0		0.18
Cyprus	20.2	0.73	22.4	0.73	25.8	0.82	18.9	0.85	9.5		0.49	2.8		0.40	#	!	0.14
Czech Republic	7.4	0.68	14.3	0.76	23.3	0.95	26.2	0.84	18.4		0.74	8.1		0.63	2.2		0.30
Denmark	3.1	0.33	10.5	0.73	21.9	0.97	29.5	0.90	23.4		0.86	9.8		0.67	1.9		0.33
Dominican Republic	68.3	1.61	22.2	1.15	7.7	0.79	1.5	0.39	‡		0.11	‡		†	#		†
Estonia	2.2	0.31	9.0	0.67	21.5	0.94	28.9	0.84	24.2		0.72	11.3		0.66	2.9		0.41
Finland	3.6	0.48	10.0	0.65	21.8	0.80	29.3	0.79	23.7		0.98	9.5		0.68	2.2		0.30
France	8.8	0.71	14.7	0.69	20.7	0.88	23.8	0.77	20.6		0.71	9.5		0.61	1.9		0.27
Georgia	31.2	1.36	25.9	0.98	22.8	0.82	13.4	0.71	5.2		0.53	1.4		0.34	‡		†
Germany	5.1	0.57	12.1	0.76	21.8	0.94	26.8	0.74	21.2		0.94	10.1		0.64	2.9		0.36
Greece	15.1	1.33	20.7	0.97	26.0	0.89	22.1	1.00	12.3		0.85	3.4		0.44	0.5		0.14
Hong Kong (China)	2.5	0.42	6.4	0.56	13.6	0.86	23.4	0.94	27.4		1.05	18.8		0.89	7.7		0.71
Hungary	11.3	0.83	16.6	0.78	23.1	1.01	24.5	0.97	16.3		0.81	6.7		0.49	1.5		0.26
Iceland	8.4	0.59	15.2	0.88	23.7	1.13	24.8	1.10	17.5		0.87	8.1		0.71	2.2		0.34
Indonesia	37.9	1.68	30.7	1.12	19.6	1.01	8.4	0.72	2.7		0.38	0.6		0.17	‡		†
Ireland	3.5	0.46	11.5	0.65	24.1	0.89	30.0	0.89	21.2		0.71	8.3		0.51	1.5		0.22
Israel	15.0	0.99	17.1	0.78	21.1	0.98	21.7	0.99	16.1		0.79	7.1		0.65	1.9		0.32
Italy	8.3	0.64	14.9	0.78	23.3	0.85	24.7	0.80	18.3		0.87	8.1		0.60	2.4		0.34
Japan	2.9	0.40	7.8	0.57	17.2	0.90	25.8	0.87	25.9		0.91	15.0		0.90	5.3		0.73
Jordan	38.9	1.28	28.7	0.90	20.9	0.90	9.2	0.64	2.1		0.30	#	!	†	‡		†
Korea, Republic of	5.4	0.63	10.0	0.74	17.2	0.78	23.7	0.81	22.7		0.94	14.3		0.87	6.6		0.68
Kosovo	48.7	1.00	29.0	1.26	16.5	0.95	5.1	0.60	0.7		0.23	‡		†	‡		†
Latvia	5.7	0.63	15.8	0.81	28.3	0.91	28.8	0.95	16.3		0.74	4.5		0.40	0.6		0.14
Lebanon	36.6	1.73	23.6	1.21	19.5	0.91	12.3	0.93	5.9		0.58	1.7		0.30	#	!	†
Lithuania	8.5	0.75	16.9	0.82	26.4	1.08	25.4	1.04	15.9		0.90	5.8		0.58	1.1		0.22
Luxembourg	8.8	0.49	17.0	0.71	22.5	0.69	23.6	0.96	18.0		0.67	7.8		0.41	2.2		0.30
Macau (China)	1.3	0.20	5.3	0.46	15.1	0.64	27.3	0.84	29.1		0.74	16.9		0.67	5.0		0.54
Macedonia, Republic of	45.1	0.74	25.1	0.83	17.3	0.92	8.6	0.59	3.1		0.39	0.7		0.17	‡		†
Malta	14.7	0.61	14.4	0.75	20.0	0.86	21.6	0.69	17.5		0.76	8.9		0.59	3.0		0.32
Mexico	25.5	1.11	31.1	0.92	26.9	0.92	12.9	0.76	3.2		0.36	#	!	†	#		†
Moldova, Republic of	24.8	1.05	25.5	0.97	25.0	1.12	16.3	0.77	6.7		0.57	1.5		0.24	#	!	†
Montenegro, Republic of	25.0	0.74	26.9	0.80	24.9	0.97	15.7	0.72	6.1		0.42	1.4		0.21	#	!	†
Netherlands	5.2	0.50	11.5	0.70	19.8	0.75	24.9	0.88	23.0		0.83	12.3		0.68	3.2		0.33
New Zealand	7.1	0.54	14.6	0.83	22.6	0.99	25.3	1.01	19.0		0.79	8.6		0.66	2.8		0.37
Norway	4.8	0.48	12.3	0.65	23.6	0.89	27.7	0.82	21.0		1.02	8.7		0.62	1.9		0.27
Peru	37.7	1.18	28.4	0.86	21.0	0.89	9.8	0.71	2.7		0.38	#	!	†	#		†
Poland	4.5	0.52	12.7	0.75	22.9	0.96	27.1	0.78	20.6		0.89	9.3		0.64	2.9		0.46
Portugal	8.7	0.61	15.1	0.73	21.6	0.71	23.9	0.78	19.2		0.77	8.9		0.62	2.5		0.33
Qatar	34.7	0.54	24.0	0.56	19.9	0.57	12.8	0.38	6.4		0.32	1.9		0.18	#		†
Romania	16.2	1.26	23.7	1.21	27.4	1.08	20.1	1.11	9.3		0.85	2.8		0.44	#	!	†
Russian Federation	5.1	0.67	13.9	0.89	25.5	0.93	27.5	0.93	19.3		0.96	7.3		0.62	1.5		0.24
Singapore	2.0	0.20	5.5	0.40	12.4	0.63	20.0	0.74	25.1		0.88	21.7		0.84	13.1		0.67
Slovak Republic	11.6	0.79	16.1	0.74	23.5	1.02	24.3	0.87	16.7		0.71	6.6		0.50	1.3		0.26
Slovenia	4.4	0.40	11.7	0.63	21.4	0.80	26.8	0.75	22.3		0.84	10.4		0.59	3.0		0.36
Spain	7.2	0.49	15.0	0.80	24.9	0.83	27.5	0.98	18.1		0.70	6.3		0.52	1.0		0.20
Sweden	7.0	0.68	13.8	0.83	23.3	0.96	26.1	1.10	19.4		0.93	8.4		0.65	2.0		0.38
Switzerland	4.9	0.54	10.9	0.78	18.1	0.81	23.6	0.89	23.3		0.83	14.0		0.80	5.3		0.54
Thailand	24.2	1.20	29.6	1.13	26.1	0.90	13.8	0.89	4.8		0.56	1.2		0.29	‡		†
Trinidad and Tobago	28.3	0.76	23.9	0.91	22.1	0.84	15.6	0.75	7.5		0.55	2.2		0.29	#	!	†
Tunisia	47.4	1.46	27.4	1.06	16.4	0.88	6.4	0.63	1.8		0.42	#	!	†	‡		†
Turkey	22.9	1.54	28.4	1.36	25.3	1.14	16.3	1.24	5.9		0.93	1.0	!	0.33	‡		†
United Arab Emirates	24.4	0.99	24.4	0.72	23.2	0.76	15.9	0.70	8.5		0.50	3.1		0.31	0.6		0.10
United Kingdom	7.7	0.63	14.1	0.73	22.7	0.76	26.0	0.77	18.8		0.83	8.3		0.57	2.3		0.32
United States	10.6	*0.81*	18.8	*1.01*	26.2	*1.00*	23.8	*0.89*	14.7		*0.80*	5.0		*0.61*	0.9		*0.20*
Uruguay	25.4	1.22	27.0	1.02	24.4	0.89	15.3	0.77	6.2		0.48	1.5		0.32	0.2	!	0.09
Vietnam	4.5	0.77	14.6	1.16	26.4	1.19	27.0	1.31	18.2		1.08	7.2		0.85	2.1	!	0.66

U.S. states and territories
Massachusetts	5.4	0.99	11.8	1.55	22.6	1.82	29.6	1.66	20.6		1.63	8.5		1.25	1.5	!	0.49
North Carolina	9.9	1.28	18.9	1.64	26.0	1.48	24.7	1.64	15.0		1.18	4.9		0.86	0.7	!	0.25
Puerto Rico	41.6	3.11	31.0	1.92	17.7	2.11	7.2	1.27	2.2	!	0.82	‡		†	‡		†

† Not applicable.
# Rounds to zero.
! Interpret data with caution. Estimate is unstable due to high coefficient of variation (>30 percent and ≤50 percent).
‡ Reporting standards not met due to coefficient of variation over 50 percent.
NOTE: To reach a particular proficiency level, a student must correctly answer a majority of items at that level. Students were classified into mathematics literacy levels according to their scores. Exact cut scores are as follows: below level 1 (a score less than or equal to 334.94); level 1 (a score greater than 334.94 and less than or equal to 409.54); level 2 (a score greater than 409.54 and less than or equal to 484.14); level 3 (a score greater than 484.14 and less than or equal to 558.73); level 4 (a score greater than 558.73 and less than or equal to 633.33); level 5 (a score greater than 606.99 and less than or equal to 669.30); and level 6 (a score greater than 669.30).
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 2015.