PISA Scores By Country

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international test conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that evaluates education systems by measuring the performance of 15-year-old students in mathematics, reading, and science. PISA operates on a three-year testing cycle. The most recent PISA test was conducted in 2022, and the results were released in December 2023.

PISA test ranking explained

The PISA test evaluates student’s ability to use knowledge and skills they've acquired in school to solve real-world situations instead of focusing on how much the student memorized from their school curriculum. The assessment includes multiple-choice and open-ended questions, with responses converted to scores that vary according to the difficulty of the question. PISA covers three fundamental domains: mathematics (measuring problem-solving and reasoning skills), reading (assessing text interpretation), and science (evaluating application of scientific concepts to practical scenarios). Every three years, PISA alternates its primary focus between these three subjects while still testing all areas, with mathematics being the main focus in the 2022 cycle.

PISA scores range from 0 to 1000, with 500 representing the OECD average. Most participating countries typically score between 400 and 600 points, with each 40-point difference roughly equivalent to one year of schooling. This means that students in a country scoring 540 are performing approximately one year ahead of those in a country scoring 500.

Several factors consistently correlate with success in PISA assessments. High-performing education systems generally have rigorous teacher selection and training programs, equitable distribution of educational resources, curricula that emphasize critical thinking over rote learning, and cultural attitudes that value academic achievement.

East Asian education systems lead the 2023 rankings of the overall PISA score. Singapore ranks first with 560 points. Macau follows with 535 points, while Taiwan and Japan rank third with 533 points each. South Korea (523 points) and Hong Kong (520 points) complete the strong Asian performance in the top ranks. Estonia ranks highest among European countries with 516 points, and Canada (506 points) leads among Western countries. Ireland (504 points) and Switzerland (498 points) complete the top ten.

Countries with the highest PISA scores in the world