Proportion of students at the end of lower secondary education achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading, did not speak the language of the test at home, both sexes (%) by country

February 2026 Data Release

Countries reporting
51
Highest
83.1%
Singapore
Lowest
15.7%
Jordan
Median
53.4%
Years covered
23
2000–2022
Data points
363

What the numbers show

Proportion of students at the end of lower secondary education achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading, did not speak the language of the test at home, both sexes (%) is currently reported for 51 countries. The highest value is 83.1% in Singapore; the lowest is 15.7% in Jordan.

The median across all reporting countries is 53.4%, and the mean is 49.4%.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 5.

Over the past decade 6 countries rose and 45 fell. The largest increase was in Romania (up 10.9%), and the largest decrease in Thailand (down 75.0%).

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

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Singapore 83.1% 2022 down 5.2% flat
2 Ireland 83.0% 2022 down 2.5% rising
3 Canada 79.8% 2022 down 10.9% flat
4 Hong Kong, China 76.3% 2022 down 8.4% flat
5 Australia 74.0% 2022 down 11.5% falling
6 United States of America 69.7% 2022 down 10.2% rising
7 New Zealand 69.1% 2022 down 0.3% flat
8 Luxembourg 67.8% 2018 down 12.1% rising
9 Spain 67.5% 2022 down 12.8% falling
10 Italy 65.8% 2022 up 1.7% flat
11 Qatar 65.6% 2022 up 9.6% rising
12 Latvia 64.5% 2022 down 10.6% falling
13 Portugal 60.1% 2022 down 16.3% rising
14 Israel 60.0% 2022 down 23.6% flat
15 Denmark 59.6% 2022 down 14.0% flat
16 Norway 59.0% 2022 down 14.3% flat
17 Belgium 58.4% 2022 down 23.3% falling
18 Croatia 56.6% 2022 down 23.7% falling
19 Sweden 56.6% 2022 down 8.3% falling
20 Austria 56.1% 2022 down 18.8% flat
21 Russian Federation 54.3% 2018 up 6.3% rising
22 Czechia 54.2% 2022 down 27.0% falling
23 Hungary 54.0% 2022 down 26.0% rising
24 Poland 53.8% 2022 down 36.9% falling
25 Slovenia 53.5% 2022 down 14.6% falling
26 United Arab Emirates 53.4% 2022 down 25.6% falling
27 Finland 53.3% 2022 down 21.8% falling
28 France 52.2% 2022 down 18.9% falling
29 Lithuania 51.4% 2022 down 9.6% falling
30 Germany 50.9% 2022 down 32.9% rising
31 Türkiye 49.9% 2022 down 3.9% rising
32 Chile 45.9% 2022 down 2.3% rising
33 Republic of Korea 45.2% 2022 down 47.1% falling
34 Netherlands 45.1% 2022 down 35.8% falling
35 Romania 41.5% 2022 up 10.9% falling
36 Costa Rica 39.7% 2022 down 30.5% falling
37 Uruguay 39.2% 2022 up 0.0% falling
38 Iceland 38.5% 2022 down 24.4% falling
39 Greece 37.3% 2022 down 32.3% falling
40 Serbia 36.0% 2022 down 43.6% rising
41 Slovakia 30.8% 2022 up 7.3% falling
42 Tunisia 23.7% 2015 down 49.9% falling
43 Indonesia 23.2% 2022 down 47.7% falling
44 Mexico 22.7% 2022 down 16.2% rising
45 Albania 22.2% 2022 down 45.9% flat
46 Colombia 22.0% 2022 down 41.3% falling
47 Argentina 21.8% 2022 down 10.3% falling
48 Brazil 21.5% 2022 down 51.7% falling
49 Bulgaria 19.8% 2022 down 8.7% rising
50 Thailand 16.5% 2022 down 75.0% falling
51 Jordan 15.7% 2022 down 67.8% 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-46/

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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, did not speak 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, 363 data points, 2000–2022
Last refreshed

February 2026 Data Release