Proportion of students at the end of lower secondary education achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading, female (%) by country

February 2026 Data Release

Countries reporting
51
Highest
91.8%
Ireland
Lowest
28.1%
Jordan
Median
77.7%
Years covered
23
2000–2022
Data points
366

What the numbers show

Proportion of students at the end of lower secondary education achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading, female (%) is currently reported for 51 countries. The highest value is 91.8% in Ireland; the lowest is 28.1% in Jordan.

The median across all reporting countries is 77.7%, and the mean is 70.9%.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 3.

Over the past decade 3 countries rose and 48 fell. The largest increase was in Qatar (up 11.9%), and the largest decrease in Jordan (down 58.3%).

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

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Ireland 91.8% 2022 down 2.3% flat
2 Singapore 91.4% 2022 down 2.6% flat
3 Republic of Korea 90.0% 2022 down 5.8% falling
4 Hong Kong, China 86.4% 2022 down 9.9% falling
5 Finland 85.7% 2022 down 10.2% falling
6 Canada 85.6% 2022 down 8.4% falling
7 Denmark 84.7% 2022 down 5.8% flat
8 Czechia 83.7% 2022 down 6.4% flat
9 United States of America 83.7% 2022 down 6.2% flat
10 New Zealand 83.7% 2022 down 5.6% falling
11 Croatia 83.6% 2022 down 7.7% falling
12 Poland 83.2% 2022 down 12.3% flat
13 Slovenia 83.0% 2022 down 6.7% falling
14 Russian Federation 82.9% 2018 up 1.9% rising
15 Italy 82.8% 2022 down 5.2% flat
16 Australia 82.7% 2022 down 9.0% falling
17 Latvia 82.4% 2022 down 10.2% flat
18 Sweden 81.9% 2022 down 4.8% falling
19 Lithuania 81.2% 2022 down 9.4% falling
20 Portugal 81.1% 2022 down 7.3% flat
21 Spain 80.2% 2022 down 7.7% falling
22 Norway 79.7% 2022 down 11.8% falling
23 Belgium 79.4% 2022 down 10.0% falling
24 Austria 78.1% 2022 down 10.5% falling
25 Germany 77.8% 2022 down 14.8% flat
26 Hungary 77.7% 2022 down 10.6% falling
27 France 77.0% 2022 down 11.8% falling
28 Türkiye 76.5% 2022 down 12.9% flat
29 Luxembourg 75.8% 2018 down 6.3% flat
30 Israel 75.3% 2022 down 11.3% rising
31 Slovakia 70.9% 2022 down 11.0% falling
32 Netherlands 70.4% 2022 down 21.2% falling
33 Serbia 70.2% 2022 down 8.2% rising
34 Greece 68.5% 2022 down 21.0% falling
35 Chile 68.4% 2022 down 6.1% rising
36 Iceland 67.6% 2022 down 23.1% falling
37 Romania 64.0% 2022 down 11.0% rising
38 Uruguay 61.9% 2022 up 3.4% flat
39 Qatar 61.4% 2022 up 11.9% rising
40 United Arab Emirates 60.4% 2022 down 21.5% falling
41 Mexico 54.9% 2022 down 15.6% flat
42 Bulgaria 54.2% 2022 down 25.7% falling
43 Costa Rica 53.6% 2022 down 27.6% falling
44 Brazil 53.3% 2022 down 5.8% rising
45 Colombia 51.2% 2022 down 4.0% rising
46 Argentina 48.5% 2022 down 10.3% falling
47 Thailand 40.3% 2022 down 49.2% falling
48 Albania 34.8% 2022 down 31.4% flat
49 Tunisia 32.7% 2015 down 31.9% falling
50 Indonesia 29.7% 2022 down 43.2% falling
51 Jordan 28.1% 2022 down 58.3% falling

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Proportion of students at the end of lower secondary education by country. Statizoid, drawing on UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 05 September 2026, from https://education.statizoid.com/stat/proportion-of-students-at-the-end-of-lower-secondary-education-achieving-at-least-a-41/

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About this data

Indicator
Proportion of students at the end of lower secondary education achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading, female (%)
Unit
%
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