Proportion of students at the end of lower secondary education achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading, spoke the language of the test at home, both sexes (%) by country

February 2026 Data Release

Countries reporting
51
Highest
92.6%
Singapore
Lowest
21.3%
Jordan
Median
76.7%
Years covered
23
2000–2022
Data points
364

What the numbers show

Proportion of students at the end of lower secondary education achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading, spoke the language of the test at home, both sexes (%) is currently reported for 51 countries. The highest value is 92.6% in Singapore; the lowest is 21.3% in Jordan.

The median across all reporting countries is 76.7%, and the mean is 68.4%.

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

Over the past decade 6 countries rose and 45 fell. The largest increase was in Qatar (up 41.4%), and the largest decrease in Jordan (down 57.8%).

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

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Singapore 92.6% 2022 down 3.1% flat
2 Ireland 89.5% 2022 down 1.7% flat
3 Republic of Korea 85.7% 2022 down 7.5% falling
4 Luxembourg 85.1% 2018 down 1.0% rising
5 Hong Kong, China 84.0% 2022 down 10.8% falling
6 Denmark 83.3% 2022 down 4.8% flat
7 Canada 83.0% 2022 down 8.7% falling
8 United States of America 82.4% 2022 down 3.4% flat
9 New Zealand 82.2% 2022 down 6.2% falling
10 Sweden 81.9% 2022 down 0.6% falling
11 Finland 81.8% 2022 down 9.4% falling
12 Germany 81.6% 2022 down 8.3% flat
13 Italy 81.4% 2022 down 4.9% flat
14 Austria 81.3% 2022 down 4.2% flat
15 Czechia 80.3% 2022 down 4.6% flat
16 Australia 80.1% 2022 down 8.6% falling
17 Russian Federation 80.0% 2018 up 6.6% rising
18 Latvia 79.1% 2022 down 6.6% rising
19 Belgium 79.1% 2022 down 9.9% flat
20 Poland 79.0% 2022 down 12.0% flat
21 Portugal 78.2% 2022 down 5.5% rising
22 Croatia 78.2% 2022 down 4.6% flat
23 Spain 78.1% 2022 down 6.6% flat
24 Lithuania 77.1% 2022 down 4.7% flat
25 Slovenia 76.9% 2022 down 5.0% flat
26 France 76.7% 2022 down 9.0% falling
27 Norway 75.8% 2022 down 12.6% flat
28 Hungary 74.5% 2022 down 7.8% falling
29 Israel 73.4% 2022 down 6.6% rising
30 Türkiye 72.6% 2022 down 9.6% rising
31 Netherlands 70.2% 2022 down 20.7% falling
32 Slovakia 69.1% 2022 down 9.2% falling
33 Chile 67.4% 2022 down 0.4% rising
34 Greece 65.1% 2022 down 18.0% falling
35 Serbia 64.8% 2022 down 4.1% rising
36 Iceland 63.3% 2022 down 22.2% falling
37 Uruguay 60.2% 2022 up 11.6% flat
38 Romania 59.1% 2022 down 6.7% rising
39 United Arab Emirates 54.2% 2022 down 12.9% falling
40 Mexico 54.0% 2022 down 10.8% flat
41 Costa Rica 53.4% 2022 down 21.6% falling
42 Bulgaria 52.7% 2022 down 20.3% falling
43 Brazil 50.9% 2022 up 1.7% rising
44 Colombia 50.3% 2022 up 2.5% rising
45 Qatar 48.0% 2022 up 41.4% rising
46 Argentina 47.5% 2022 up 0.5% falling
47 Thailand 35.5% 2022 down 48.0% falling
48 Tunisia 29.1% 2015 down 28.4% rising
49 Indonesia 28.2% 2022 down 37.6% falling
50 Albania 27.7% 2022 down 42.1% rising
51 Jordan 21.3% 2022 down 57.8% 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-43/

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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, spoke the language of the test at home, both sexes (%)
Unit
%
Source
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics)
Coverage
51 places, 364 data points, 2000–2022
Last refreshed

February 2026 Data Release