Proportion of students at the end of lower secondary education achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading, very affluent socioeconomic background, both sexes (%) by country

February 2026 Data Release

Countries reporting
49
Highest
95.6%
Singapore
Lowest
42.7%
Jordan
Median
87.6%
Years covered
23
2000–2022
Data points
353

What the numbers show

Proportion of students at the end of lower secondary education achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading, very affluent socioeconomic background, both sexes (%) is currently reported for 49 countries. The highest value is 95.6% in Singapore; the lowest is 42.7% in Jordan.

The median across all reporting countries is 87.6%, and the mean is 82.6%.

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

Over the past decade 9 countries rose and 40 fell. The largest increase was in Qatar (up 29.3%), and the largest decrease in Jordan (down 34.0%).

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

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Singapore 95.6% 2022 down 1.4% flat
2 Ireland 94.4% 2022 down 4.2% flat
3 Republic of Korea 93.4% 2022 down 2.8% falling
4 Hungary 91.3% 2022 down 4.7% falling
5 Czechia 91.3% 2022 down 3.6% flat
6 Germany 91.2% 2022 down 4.5% flat
7 Poland 90.8% 2022 down 6.7% flat
8 Austria 90.3% 2022 up 0.0% falling
9 Belgium 90.1% 2022 down 6.6% flat
10 France 90.1% 2022 down 7.0% falling
11 United States of America 90.1% 2022 down 4.4% falling
12 Türkiye 90.1% 2022 down 1.8% flat
13 Luxembourg 89.8% 2018 down 0.9% flat
14 Portugal 89.8% 2022 down 6.6% flat
15 New Zealand 89.7% 2022 down 6.0% falling
16 Italy 89.5% 2022 down 2.8% flat
17 Croatia 89.2% 2022 down 4.9% flat
18 Latvia 89.2% 2022 down 4.7% flat
19 Finland 89.1% 2022 down 6.6% falling
20 Hong Kong, China 89.0% 2022 down 7.4% flat
21 Canada 88.2% 2022 down 8.2% falling
22 Denmark 88.1% 2022 down 7.2% flat
23 Australia 88.0% 2022 down 7.5% falling
24 Lithuania 87.6% 2022 down 2.8% flat
25 Spain 87.6% 2022 down 6.6% flat
26 Sweden 87.4% 2022 down 2.5% falling
27 Uruguay 85.6% 2022 up 6.6% flat
28 Colombia 85.3% 2022 up 17.5% rising
29 Chile 85.3% 2022 down 3.3% flat
30 Romania 85.3% 2022 down 1.3% rising
31 Slovenia 85.2% 2022 down 9.6% falling
32 Russian Federation 85.0% 2018 down 3.5% rising
33 Israel 84.4% 2022 down 4.6% flat
34 Slovakia 84.4% 2022 down 7.4% falling
35 Brazil 82.7% 2022 up 15.0% rising
36 Netherlands 81.3% 2022 down 14.0% falling
37 Norway 81.0% 2022 down 11.3% falling
38 Mexico 80.9% 2022 up 4.1% flat
39 Greece 80.2% 2022 down 12.0% falling
40 Thailand 73.9% 2022 down 12.1% falling
41 Argentina 72.5% 2022 up 5.2% falling
42 Bulgaria 72.4% 2022 down 16.8% falling
43 Iceland 71.4% 2022 down 19.9% falling
44 Qatar 68.5% 2022 up 29.3% rising
45 Indonesia 64.6% 2022 up 4.8% flat
46 United Arab Emirates 61.8% 2022 down 18.0% falling
47 Tunisia 47.2% 2015 down 24.7% falling
48 Albania 46.9% 2022 up 0.8% flat
49 Jordan 42.7% 2022 down 34.0% 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-47/

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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, very affluent socioeconomic background, both sexes (%)
Unit
%
Source
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics)
Coverage
49 places, 353 data points, 2000–2022
Last refreshed

February 2026 Data Release