Proportion of students at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading, adjusted gender parity index (GPIA) by country

February 2026 Data Release

Countries reporting
51
Highest
1.56 GPIA
Jordan
Lowest
1.02 GPIA
Costa Rica
Median
1.13 GPIA
Years covered
23
2000–2022
Data points
366

What the numbers show

Proportion of students at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading, adjusted gender parity index (GPIA) is currently reported for 51 countries. The highest value is 1.56 GPIA in Jordan; the lowest is 1.02 GPIA in Costa Rica.

The median across all reporting countries is 1.13 GPIA, and the mean is 1.15 GPIA.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 2.

Over the past decade 11 countries rose and 40 fell. The largest increase was in Albania (up 31.8%), and the largest decrease in Costa Rica (down 13.6%).

Proportion of students at the end of lower secondary achieving at: full country ranking

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Jordan 1.56 GPIA 2022 up 1.4% rising
2 Albania 1.47 GPIA 2022 up 31.8% falling
3 Thailand 1.3 GPIA 2022 down 4.1% flat
4 Indonesia 1.29 GPIA 2022 up 0.8% flat
5 Qatar 1.28 GPIA 2022 down 10.0% falling
6 Tunisia 1.28 GPIA 2015 down 1.9% flat
7 United Arab Emirates 1.27 GPIA 2022 down 4.5% falling
8 Bulgaria 1.24 GPIA 2022 down 6.2% falling
9 Iceland 1.21 GPIA 2022 up 0.9% flat
10 Slovenia 1.21 GPIA 2022 down 0.5% flat
11 Serbia 1.18 GPIA 2022 down 5.5% falling
12 Romania 1.18 GPIA 2022 down 6.5% flat
13 Greece 1.18 GPIA 2022 down 3.4% flat
14 Norway 1.18 GPIA 2022 up 2.9% flat
15 Slovakia 1.17 GPIA 2022 down 1.6% flat
16 Finland 1.16 GPIA 2022 up 2.2% rising
17 Lithuania 1.15 GPIA 2022 down 7.1% falling
18 Turkey 1.15 GPIA 2022 down 5.1% falling
19 Sweden 1.15 GPIA 2022 down 4.5% flat
20 Croatia 1.14 GPIA 2022 down 4.6% falling
21 Netherlands 1.14 GPIA 2022 up 5.9% rising
22 Brazil 1.14 GPIA 2022 down 10.4% flat
23 Luxembourg 1.13 GPIA 2018 down 3.2% flat
24 Israel 1.13 GPIA 2022 down 6.0% flat
25 Latvia 1.13 GPIA 2022 down 5.2% falling
26 Poland 1.13 GPIA 2022 up 1.0% flat
27 Argentina 1.13 GPIA 2022 down 12.9% falling
28 Russia 1.12 GPIA 2018 down 7.8% falling
29 Belgium 1.12 GPIA 2022 up 2.0% flat
30 Czechia 1.12 GPIA 2022 down 1.5% flat
31 Spain 1.11 GPIA 2022 down 0.4% flat
32 Colombia 1.1 GPIA 2022 down 7.1% flat
33 New Zealand 1.1 GPIA 2022 down 0.4% flat
34 Italy 1.1 GPIA 2022 down 4.3% falling
35 Portugal 1.1 GPIA 2022 down 3.4% falling
36 France 1.1 GPIA 2022 down 3.9% flat
37 South Korea 1.1 GPIA 2022 up 3.5% rising
38 Australia 1.1 GPIA 2022 down 1.3% flat
39 Uruguay 1.1 GPIA 2022 down 12.1% falling
40 Hungary 1.09 GPIA 2022 down 5.7% flat
41 United States 1.09 GPIA 2022 down 3.2% flat
42 Canada 1.09 GPIA 2022 down 0.5% flat
43 Denmark 1.09 GPIA 2022 down 1.4% flat
44 Hong Kong 1.08 GPIA 2022 up 3.0% flat
45 Germany 1.08 GPIA 2022 down 3.7% flat
46 Austria 1.08 GPIA 2022 down 6.1% flat
47 Mexico 1.07 GPIA 2022 down 9.9% falling
48 Ireland 1.07 GPIA 2022 down 0.6% flat
49 Chile 1.06 GPIA 2022 down 9.0% falling
50 Singapore 1.06 GPIA 2022 down 2.0% flat
51 Costa Rica 1.02 GPIA 2022 down 13.6% falling

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Proportion of students at the end of lower secondary achieving at by country. Statizoid, drawing on UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 01 September 2026, from https://education.statizoid.com/stat/proportion-of-students-at-the-end-of-lower-secondary-achieving-at-least-a-minimum-7/

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About this data

Indicator
Proportion of students at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading, adjusted gender parity index (GPIA)
Unit
GPIA
Source
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics)
Coverage
51 places, 366 data points, 2000–2022
Last refreshed

February 2026 Data Release