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

February 2026 Data Release

Countries reporting
51
Highest
86.3%
Singapore
Lowest
12.2%
Jordan
Median
65.7%
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, male (%) is currently reported for 51 countries. The highest value is 86.3% in Singapore; the lowest is 12.2% in Jordan.

The median across all reporting countries is 65.7%, and the mean is 61.0%.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 7.

Over the past decade 11 countries rose and 40 fell. The largest increase was in Qatar (up 39.6%), and the largest decrease in Jordan (down 60.3%).

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

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Singapore 86.3% 2022 down 0.3% flat
2 Ireland 85.5% 2022 down 1.7% flat
3 Republic of Korea 81.1% 2022 down 9.5% falling
4 Hong Kong, China 79.1% 2022 down 12.9% falling
5 Canada 78.2% 2022 down 7.7% falling
6 Denmark 77.5% 2022 down 4.2% flat
7 United States of America 76.0% 2022 down 2.3% flat
8 New Zealand 74.9% 2022 down 5.1% falling
9 Australia 74.8% 2022 down 7.6% falling
10 Italy 74.2% 2022 up 0.2% flat
11 Czechia 73.8% 2022 down 4.5% flat
12 Russian Federation 72.8% 2018 up 14.3% rising
13 Portugal 72.7% 2022 down 3.1% rising
14 Poland 72.5% 2022 down 13.4% rising
15 Latvia 71.8% 2022 down 3.4% rising
16 Finland 71.8% 2022 down 12.8% falling
17 Austria 71.5% 2022 down 3.1% falling
18 Croatia 71.5% 2022 down 1.3% flat
19 Germany 71.3% 2022 down 10.8% flat
20 Spain 71.0% 2022 down 7.2% flat
21 Hungary 70.5% 2022 down 3.6% falling
22 Belgium 69.9% 2022 down 12.2% falling
23 Sweden 69.8% 2022 up 1.6% falling
24 France 69.2% 2022 down 7.2% falling
25 Lithuania 68.9% 2022 up 1.1% rising
26 Luxembourg 65.7% 2018 down 2.1% rising
27 Norway 65.7% 2022 down 15.2% falling
28 Israel 65.5% 2022 down 3.2% rising
29 Slovenia 65.4% 2022 down 6.0% flat
30 Türkiye 64.9% 2022 down 6.0% rising
31 Chile 64.2% 2022 up 5.7% rising
32 Netherlands 60.7% 2022 down 26.7% falling
33 Slovakia 58.9% 2022 down 8.8% falling
34 Serbia 57.2% 2022 up 0.2% rising
35 Greece 56.4% 2022 down 16.8% falling
36 Uruguay 56.0% 2022 up 24.1% rising
37 Iceland 53.2% 2022 down 24.2% falling
38 Romania 52.6% 2022 down 1.1% rising
39 Costa Rica 52.3% 2022 down 13.3% falling
40 Mexico 50.9% 2022 down 3.2% rising
41 Brazil 46.0% 2022 up 11.3% rising
42 Colombia 45.8% 2022 up 6.1% rising
43 Qatar 44.0% 2022 up 39.6% rising
44 United Arab Emirates 44.0% 2022 down 14.4% falling
45 Argentina 42.5% 2022 up 10.8% flat
46 Bulgaria 41.0% 2022 down 16.5% falling
47 Thailand 28.4% 2022 down 44.8% falling
48 Tunisia 23.5% 2015 down 29.5% falling
49 Indonesia 21.0% 2022 down 44.0% falling
50 Albania 18.4% 2022 down 59.0% rising
51 Jordan 12.2% 2022 down 60.3% 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-42/

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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, male (%)
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