The results of the 2025 PISA study, published on September 8, show a dramatic drop in performance in reading and mathematics around the world.
The Program for International Student Assessment, better known as PISA, is a global study that measures how well 15-year-old students can apply their knowledge and skills in reading, mathematics and science to real-life situations. The test is designed to measure problem-solving skills rather than evaluate students on memorized school facts, which means they cannot revise in preparation for it.
First administered in 2000, it is considered the world’s most influential measure of educational performance.
In 2025, more than 760,000 students in 91 countries and economies took the test.
The study always includes in its ranking the average of the international group of 38 advanced, high-income countries that are part of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the OECD.
Downward trend in students’ performances
Between 2015 and 2025, reading skills have seen the most significant decline, decreasing by 28 points in OECD countries, and by 16 points in the other participating countries and economies.
Scores in math have dropped by 22 points across the OECD on average, compared to a decline of 8 points in the rest of the world.
In science, the focus of the 2025 PISA assessment, a seven-point decline was measured in OECD countries, while the performances in other countries and economies remained broadly stable.
Nearly a third of OECD students considered ‘low performers’
The latest PISA study reveals that around 29% of 15-year-olds in OECD countries are now estimated to be “low performers” across all three subjects.
What does this mean?
In science, they struggle to interpret simple data or decipher a graph. In reading, they find it hard to find information in simple texts. In mathematics, they might be unable to understand, for example, the relationship between units and price — basic skills needed for grocery shopping.
Drop in global reading scores most concerning
Across the OECD, reading scores fell by 25 score points on average.
The study points out that 20 score points are about equivalent to a year of learning. This implies that most 15-year-old students were performing at the level typically expected of 14-year-olds.
Among the OECD countries, the drops were most extreme in Iceland and Slovenia, with scores going down by more than 50 points.
Reading scores improved in five countries only: Qatar (up 11 points), Brunei Darussalam (18), Cambodia (26), the Philippines (27) and Zambia (50). Even though these education systems are still below the OECD average, they “deserve recognition for achieving measurable gains despite the broader global decline,” notes the study.
Not all schools are equal in Germany
In some countries, such as Iceland, Cambodia and Finland, for example, there is very little variation in performance among schools, showing less than 10% overall variation in student achievement.
But in 10 countries, including Germany, differences among schools account for at least 50% of the total variation in performance.
The study notes that these countries’ systems presumably have schools reserved for higher-achieving students, leaving disproportionately large numbers of lower-achieving students enrolled in the other institutions.
For the authors of the PISA study presentation, this is a problem that needs to be taken seriously: “Where such academic segmentation compounds with social background, it can amplify inequalities, producing pockets of excellence while failing to ensure consistent learning outcomes across the education system as a whole.”
Germany’s PISA shocks
The very first PISA study was held in the year 2000. As one of the 31 participating countries, Germany was shocked to discover that its 15-year-olds scored below the international average.
In the last PISA test, held in 2022 and published in 2023, the scores of German students had dropped to a new low.
In the latest study, scores have plunged even deeper.
Between 2022 and 2025, reading scores plummeted by 15 points and math scores by 11 points, while science scores have gone down by seven.
The top six rankings in reading skills are held by Asian countries. Germany barely remains above the OECD average, coming in 24th. The United States comes in 13th position, Poland ranks 14th and Turkey 18th.
In math, Germany is below the OECD average, coming in 26th, just a rank above the United States. All top seven positions are held by Asian countries, followed by Estonia in the 8th spot.
In science, Germany is only two score points above the OECD average, ranking 23rd. Turkey made important progress in this field, now ranking 19th, with an increase of 18 score points since the 2022 study.
Why is educational performance falling globally overall?
The data itself cannot explain the decline in reading skills, but the authors of the study note that while school closures due to COVID-19 may be one factor, there is no direct relationship between how long schools closed during the pandemic and the students’ performances in reading.
There was already a downward trend in many countries long before the pandemic struck, the study notes.
These long-term declines in skills “suggest deeper structural issues within education systems, with challenges at the school and system level,” according to the study. These challenges include the impact of digital distractions on students and growing disinterest towards reading books.
AI has had an immediate impact on learning. The 2025 PISA study asked students about their use of AI in schoolwork; more than 40% said they used it to draft texts for writing assignments once or twice a week, or even every day. Students who reported using AI chatbots got lower scores in science, on average, than those who didn’t use AI.
“Overall, the data suggests weaknesses in how education systems are adapting to social, technological and economic change,” states the study’s summary. “Looking ahead, the challenge for policymakers is not simply recovering lost ground, but to ensure schools meet the rapidly changing demands of the world. As PISA shows, it is not an easy task.”
While waiting for policymakers to react, the study suggests that parents can contribute to children’s potential by being supportive and curious about their studies and helping them develop positive attitudes towards school. “Even something as simple as asking children what they learned or did at school, about once a week or more, is associated with an average 26-point increase in science performance, after accounting for socio-economic status.”
Edited by: Brenda Haas
