Proportion of children/young people at the age of lower secondary education prepared for the future in reading, female (%) by country

February 2026 Data Release

Countries reporting
47
Highest
90.7%
Ireland
Lowest
24.8%
Tunisia
Median
74.0%
Years covered
23
2000–2022
Data points
340

What the numbers show

Proportion of children/young people at the age of lower secondary education prepared for the future in reading, female (%) is currently reported for 47 countries. The highest value is 90.7% in Ireland; the lowest is 24.8% in Tunisia.

The median across all reporting countries is 74.0%, and the mean is 67.0%.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 4.

Over the past decade 4 countries rose and 43 fell. The largest increase was in Qatar (up 26.4%), and the largest decrease in Jordan (down 57.0%).

Proportion of children/young people at the age of lower secondary: full country ranking

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Ireland 90.7% 2022 down 1.8% flat
2 Korea 90.0% 2022 down 5.8% falling
3 Finland 85.4% 2022 down 10.1% falling
4 Canada 85.1% 2022 down 8.0% falling
5 Denmark 84.5% 2022 down 5.7% flat
6 United States of America 82.9% 2022 down 5.8% flat
7 Croatia 82.6% 2022 down 7.3% flat
8 Russian Federation 82.6% 2018 up 2.1% rising
9 Poland 82.5% 2022 down 11.6% flat
10 Slovenia 82.4% 2022 down 6.4% falling
11 Italy 82.3% 2022 down 4.6% flat
12 Latvia 81.9% 2022 down 10.0% flat
13 Australia 81.8% 2022 down 8.2% falling
14 Sweden 81.4% 2022 down 4.2% falling
15 Lithuania 80.7% 2022 down 9.2% falling
16 Czechia 80.3% 2022 down 6.4% flat
17 Norway 79.5% 2022 down 11.7% falling
18 Spain 77.4% 2022 down 2.2% flat
19 Austria 77.0% 2022 down 10.6% falling
20 Portugal 76.6% 2022 down 2.3% rising
21 France 76.2% 2022 down 10.8% falling
22 Hungary 75.0% 2022 down 10.6% falling
23 Israel 74.8% 2022 down 10.6% rising
24 Türkiye 74.0% 2022 down 0.5% rising
25 Belgium 72.9% 2022 down 3.4% rising
26 Germany 72.1% 2022 down 14.3% flat
27 Slovakia 70.1% 2022 down 11.0% falling
28 Serbia 69.3% 2022 down 7.8% rising
29 Chile 67.4% 2022 down 5.4% rising
30 Iceland 66.9% 2022 down 23.1% falling
31 Luxembourg 66.4% 2018 down 3.2% rising
32 Greece 66.0% 2022 down 20.0% falling
33 Netherlands 63.9% 2022 down 21.9% falling
34 Qatar 61.1% 2022 up 26.4% rising
35 Romania 59.5% 2022 down 11.4% rising
36 Bulgaria 50.7% 2022 down 24.9% falling
37 Mexico 48.9% 2022 down 11.3% rising
38 Brazil 48.5% 2022 up 5.4% rising
39 Uruguay 46.1% 2022 up 4.8% flat
40 Colombia 41.9% 2022 down 2.3% rising
41 Costa Rica 41.2% 2022 down 17.8% falling
42 Argentina 40.7% 2022 down 8.4% falling
43 Thailand 37.7% 2022 down 47.3% falling
44 Albania 33.9% 2022 down 30.8% flat
45 Indonesia 27.2% 2022 down 36.2% rising
46 Jordan 25.9% 2022 down 57.0% falling
47 Tunisia 24.8% 2015 down 21.1% rising

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Proportion of children/young people at the age of lower secondary by country. Statizoid, drawing on UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 11 September 2026, from https://education.statizoid.com/stat/proportion-of-children-young-people-at-the-age-of-lower-secondary-education-prepared-for-6/

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About this data

Indicator
Proportion of children/young people at the age of lower secondary education prepared for the future in reading, female (%)
Unit
%
Source
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics)
Coverage
47 places, 340 data points, 2000–2022
Last refreshed

February 2026 Data Release