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

February 2026 Data Release

Countries reporting
47
Highest
84.2%
Ireland
Lowest
11.2%
Jordan
Median
64.1%
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, male (%) is currently reported for 47 countries. The highest value is 84.2% in Ireland; the lowest is 11.2% in Jordan.

The median across all reporting countries is 64.1%, and the mean is 56.6%.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 8.

Over the past decade 15 countries rose and 32 fell. The largest increase was in Qatar (up 53.4%), and the largest decrease in Jordan (down 59.0%).

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

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Ireland 84.2% 2022 down 1.0% flat
2 Korea 81.1% 2022 down 9.5% falling
3 Canada 77.3% 2022 down 7.3% falling
4 Denmark 77.2% 2022 down 4.1% flat
5 United States of America 75.1% 2022 down 1.7% flat
6 Australia 73.6% 2022 down 6.8% falling
7 Italy 73.4% 2022 up 1.2% rising
8 Russian Federation 72.4% 2018 up 15.1% rising
9 Finland 71.5% 2022 down 12.7% falling
10 Poland 71.1% 2022 down 12.3% rising
11 Czechia 70.6% 2022 down 4.5% flat
12 Croatia 70.4% 2022 down 1.4% flat
13 Austria 70.2% 2022 down 3.5% falling
14 Latvia 70.1% 2022 down 2.9% rising
15 Sweden 69.1% 2022 up 2.0% falling
16 Lithuania 68.2% 2022 up 1.3% rising
17 France 67.6% 2022 down 6.1% falling
18 Hungary 66.9% 2022 down 4.3% falling
19 Portugal 66.4% 2022 up 4.1% rising
20 Spain 66.4% 2022 down 1.2% rising
21 Germany 65.6% 2022 down 11.1% flat
22 Norway 65.5% 2022 down 15.0% falling
23 Slovenia 64.8% 2022 down 5.2% flat
24 Israel 64.1% 2022 down 2.9% rising
25 Belgium 62.9% 2022 down 4.5% rising
26 Türkiye 62.3% 2022 down 0.4% rising
27 Chile 62.2% 2022 up 6.4% rising
28 Slovakia 58.3% 2022 down 8.9% falling
29 Serbia 56.5% 2022 up 0.8% rising
30 Luxembourg 56.2% 2018 up 1.6% rising
31 Greece 53.8% 2022 down 16.2% falling
32 Iceland 52.7% 2022 down 24.1% falling
33 Netherlands 52.7% 2022 down 28.2% falling
34 Romania 48.9% 2022 down 1.0% rising
35 Mexico 44.3% 2022 up 3.2% rising
36 Qatar 43.9% 2022 up 53.4% rising
37 Brazil 38.7% 2022 up 32.4% rising
38 Bulgaria 38.6% 2022 down 15.8% falling
39 Uruguay 36.8% 2022 up 26.1% rising
40 Costa Rica 35.8% 2022 up 1.4% flat
41 Colombia 34.9% 2022 up 12.5% rising
42 Argentina 31.4% 2022 up 10.4% rising
43 Thailand 24.5% 2022 down 40.8% falling
44 Indonesia 18.5% 2022 down 36.3% rising
45 Albania 17.7% 2022 down 58.7% rising
46 Tunisia 15.0% 2015 down 23.4% flat
47 Jordan 11.2% 2022 down 59.0% falling

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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-8/

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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, male (%)
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