Secondary School Student Performance By Country - Math & Reading Proficiency

Which countries have the best secondary school students? Russia leads with 85.52% overall performance projected for 2026, followed by Poland and Estonia. This ranking reveals student achievement in lower secondary education (typically ages 11-15) across 86 countries, showing which education systems maintain quality as students advance and which struggle with the transition from primary to secondary school.

What Is Secondary School Performance?

Secondary school performance measures the percentage of lower secondary students (grades 6-9, typically ages 11-15) who achieve at least minimum proficiency in core subjects. This represents a critical transition period:

• Math Proficiency: Can students handle algebra, geometry, data analysis, and problem-solving?
• Reading Proficiency: Can students comprehend complex texts, analyze arguments, and extract information from multiple sources?
• Overall Performance: Average of math and reading proficiency, representing comprehensive student achievement

Secondary school is harder than primary school. Expectations increase. Many countries see proficiency rates drop as students advance. A country maintaining 80%+ proficiency in secondary school demonstrates a strong education system.

Secondary School Student Performance By Country - Math & Reading Proficiency

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#	Country	Overall Performance 2026 Estimate
1	Russia RU	85.52
2	Poland PL	85.18
3	Estonia EE	85.15
4	Ireland IE	84.92
5	South Korea KR	82.62
6	Denmark DK	82.35
7	Latvia LV	81.38
8	Canada CA	79.96
9	Switzerland CH	78.31
10	Finland FI	78.13
11	Slovenia SI	76.89
12	United Kingdom GB	76.74
13	Portugal PT	76.03
14	Norway NO	75.74
15	Sweden SE	73.92
16	United States US	73.91
17	Australia AU	73.65
18	Lithuania LT	73.15
19	Spain ES	73.12
20	Czech Republic CZ	73.04
21	Belarus BY	72.81
22	Germany DE	72.56
23	Austria AT	72.43
24	Croatia HR	71.66
25	France FR	71.59
26	Belgium BE	71.4
27	Italy IT	71.37
28	Türkiye TR	70.84
29	Israel IL	70.54
30	Luxembourg LU	70.16
31	Vietnam VN	66.1
32	Hungary HU	65.46
33	Iceland IS	65.12
34	Slovakia SK	64.24
35	Malta MT	63.4
36	Serbia RS	63.27
37	Netherlands NL	63.1
38	Greece GR	60.92
39	Ukraine UA	57.62
40	Qatar QA	56.52
41	Romania RO	54.61
42	Moldova MD	52.1
43	Chile CL	51.76
44	Montenegro ME	51.34
45	Bulgaria BG	48.58
46	Malaysia MY	47.45
47	Mexico MX	46.12
48	Kazakhstan KZ	45.59
49	Bosnia and Herzegovina BA	43.67
50	Armenia AM	42.7
51	Mongolia MN	42.03
52	Albania AL	41.24
53	Peru PE	38.42
54	Brazil BR	37.85
55	Cyprus CY	36.6
56	Georgia GE	35.82
57	Colombia CO	35.16
58	Ecuador EC	35.08
59	Uruguay UY	35.06
60	Thailand TH	34.35
61	North Macedonia MK	34.16
62	Iran IR	33.85
63	Tunisia TN	33.82
64	Costa Rica CR	29.76
65	Azerbaijan AZ	28.4
66	Indonesia ID	27.5
67	Argentina AR	26.16
68	Jordan JO	26.11
69	Panama PA	22.8
70	Palestine PS	19.71
71	Paraguay PY	19.32
72	Uzbekistan UZ	16.44
73	Philippines PH	15.92
74	Kyrgyzstan KG	14.73
75	El Salvador SV	13.73
76	Honduras HN	13.34
77	Dominican Republic DO	13.2
78	Algeria DZ	12.4
79	Guatemala GT	12.34
80	Morocco MA	8.61
81	Syria SY	7.54
82	Ghana GH	5.93
83	Cambodia KH	5.5
84	Senegal SN	2.15
85	Zambia ZM	1.67
86	Ivory Coast CI	0.29

Top 10 Countries by Secondary School Performance (2026 Estimate)

1. Russia - 85.52%
2. Poland - 85.18%
3. Estonia - 85.15%
4. Ireland - 84.92%
5. South Korea - 82.62%
6. Denmark - 82.35%
7. Latvia - 81.38%
8. Canada - 79.96%
9. Switzerland - 78.31%
10. Finland - 78.13%

Why Secondary School Performance Matters

Career Preparation: Secondary school builds skills for higher education and careers. Students who can't read complex texts or solve algebraic problems struggle in university and modern workplaces.

Critical Thinking: Secondary education develops analytical thinking, problem-solving, and reasoning. These skills are essential for informed citizenship and professional success.

Economic Competitiveness: Countries with strong secondary education produce skilled workers for knowledge economies. Countries with weak secondary education struggle to compete globally.

Social Mobility: Secondary school is where educational gaps widen or narrow. Strong systems help disadvantaged students catch up. Weak systems let gaps become permanent.

Regional Patterns

Europe - Consistent Excellence

European countries dominate secondary school rankings. Russia, Poland, Estonia, and Ireland show 85%+ overall performance. This reflects sustained investment in education, well-trained teachers, and strong curricula that build on primary school foundations.

East Asia - High Standards

South Korea ranks 5th globally with 82.62% overall performance. East Asian countries maintain high expectations through secondary school, with rigorous curricula and strong parental support for education.

North America - Solid Performance

Canada ranks 8th (79.96%), while the United States shows moderate performance. Both countries have well-resourced education systems but face challenges with educational inequality.

Latin America and Africa - Limited Data

Many developing countries lack regular secondary school assessments. Available data shows lower proficiency rates, reflecting resource constraints and the challenge of maintaining quality as students advance.

Why Performance Drops from Primary to Secondary

Increased Difficulty: Secondary school content is harder. Algebra is harder than arithmetic. Analyzing literature is harder than basic reading. Not all students make the transition successfully.

Adolescent Challenges: Teenagers face social pressures, identity formation, and distractions that younger children don't. This affects academic focus.

Teacher Specialization: Secondary teachers specialize in subjects. A weak math teacher can't be compensated by a strong reading teacher. Quality varies more than in primary school where one teacher handles all subjects.

Socioeconomic Factors: By secondary school, poverty's effects accumulate. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds fall further behind without intervention.

Dropout Risk: Some students leave school during secondary years, especially in developing countries. Those who remain may be a more academically-oriented subset, inflating proficiency rates.

Secondary School Student Performance By Country - Math & Reading Proficiency

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#	Country	Math Proficiency	Reading Proficiency	Math Proficiency 2026 Estimate	Reading Proficiency 2026 Estimate	Overall Performance	Overall Performance 2026 Estimate
1	Russia	78.04 (2018)	77.6 (2018)	84.2	86.84	77.82 (2018)	85.52
2	Poland	76.0 (2022)	76.76 (2022)	85.54	84.81	76.38 (2022)	85.18
3	Estonia	82.39 (2022)	83.52 (2022)	84.47	85.83	82.96 (2022)	85.15
4	Ireland	79.84 (2022)	87.32 (2022)	82.02	87.83	83.58 (2022)	84.92
5	South Korea	83.78 (2022)	85.32 (2022)	82.25	82.98	84.55 (2022)	82.62
6	Denmark	79.31 (2022)	80.79 (2022)	81.46	83.25	80.05 (2022)	82.35
7	Latvia	76.59 (2022)	75.95 (2022)	82.51	80.25	76.27 (2022)	81.38
8	Canada	77.66 (2022)	81.11 (2022)	77.15	82.77	79.39 (2022)	79.96
9	Switzerland	79.5 (2022)	74.4 (2022)	80.72	75.89	76.95 (2022)	78.31
10	Finland	74.92 (2022)	78.34 (2022)	76.71	79.56	76.63 (2022)	78.13
11	Slovenia	74.81 (2022)	73.32 (2022)	77.84	75.94	74.06 (2022)	76.89
12	United Kingdom	75.59 (2022)	79.78 (2022)	74.15	79.34	77.69 (2022)	76.74
13	Portugal	65.09 (2022)	71.16 (2022)	73.86	78.2	68.13 (2022)	76.03
14	Norway	68.29 (2022)	72.31 (2022)	74.03	77.45	70.3 (2022)	75.74
15	Sweden	72.2 (2022)	75.13 (2022)	73.16	74.69	73.67 (2022)	73.92
16	United States	65.35 (2022)	78.99 (2022)	67.47	80.35	72.17 (2022)	73.91
17	Australia	72.69 (2022)	77.79 (2022)	70.25	77.04	75.24 (2022)	73.65
18	Lithuania	71.51 (2022)	74.45 (2022)	71.23	75.07	72.98 (2022)	73.15
19	Spain	68.99 (2022)	71.73 (2022)	71.86	74.38	70.36 (2022)	73.12
20	Czech Republic	71.43 (2022)	75.43 (2022)	71.26	74.83	73.43 (2022)	73.04
21	Belarus	69.86 (2018)	75.75 (2018)	69.86	75.75	72.8 (2018)	72.81
22	Germany	65.14 (2022)	68.84 (2022)	71.44	73.67	66.99 (2022)	72.56
23	Austria	73.86 (2022)	73.45 (2022)	73.3	71.56	73.66 (2022)	72.43
24	Croatia	66.12 (2022)	76.25 (2022)	65.92	77.41	71.18 (2022)	71.66
25	France	69.99 (2022)	71.89 (2022)	70.16	73.02	70.94 (2022)	71.59
26	Belgium	68.22 (2022)	67.93 (2022)	71.38	71.41	68.08 (2022)	71.4
27	Italy	60.88 (2023)	77.9 (2022)	64.51	78.23	69.39 (2023)	71.37
28	Türkiye	57.65 (2023)	68.19 (2022)	64.62	77.06	62.92 (2023)	70.84
29	Israel	61.81 (2022)	69.3 (2022)	68.1	72.99	65.56 (2022)	70.54
30	Luxembourg	62.96 (2018)	61.16 (2018)	70.79	69.52	62.06 (2018)	70.16
31	Vietnam	63.87 (2022)	68.5 (2022)	63.45	68.74	66.18 (2022)	66.1
32	Hungary	61.92 (2023)	70.91 (2022)	60.46	70.47	66.41 (2023)	65.46
33	Iceland	65.22 (2022)	59.69 (2022)	66.93	63.31	62.45 (2022)	65.12
34	Slovakia	66.26 (2022)	64.04 (2022)	65.62	62.85	65.15 (2022)	64.24
35	Malta	66.05 (2022)	62.41 (2022)	64.21	62.6	64.23 (2022)	63.4
36	Serbia	56.2 (2022)	62.77 (2022)	58.4	68.14	59.49 (2022)	63.27
37	Netherlands	64.44 (2022)	58.03 (2022)	66	60.2	61.23 (2022)	63.1
38	Greece	50.57 (2022)	59.75 (2022)	57.8	64.03	55.16 (2022)	60.92
39	Ukraine	56.91 (2022)	58.34 (2022)	56.91	58.34	57.63 (2022)	57.62
40	Qatar	39.19 (2023)	50.99 (2022)	49.84	63.19	45.09 (2023)	56.52
41	Romania	47.84 (2022)	54.2 (2022)	52.24	56.98	51.02 (2022)	54.61
42	Moldova	42.2 (2022)	48.88 (2022)	47.95	56.25	45.54 (2022)	52.1
43	Chile	23.08 (2023)	64.22 (2022)	30.8	72.73	43.65 (2023)	51.76
44	Montenegro	39.69 (2022)	46.19 (2022)	48.26	54.42	42.94 (2022)	51.34
45	Bulgaria	43.66 (2022)	44.35 (2022)	49.38	47.79	44.01 (2022)	48.58
46	Malaysia	40.24 (2022)	41.08 (2022)	49.84	45.06	40.66 (2022)	47.45
47	Mexico	30.15 (2022)	46.76 (2022)	39.5	52.75	38.46 (2022)	46.12
48	Kazakhstan	50.42 (2022)	36.28 (2022)	54.22	36.96	43.35 (2022)	45.59
49	Bosnia and Herzegovina	41.76 (2018)	45.58 (2018)	41.76	45.58	43.67 (2018)	43.67
50	Armenia	49.2 (2015)	-	42.7	-	49.2 (2015)	42.7
51	Mongolia	48.46 (2022)	35.59 (2022)	48.46	35.59	42.02 (2022)	42.03
52	Albania	25.22 (2022)	25.45 (2022)	40.84	41.65	25.33 (2022)	41.24
53	Peru	31.17 (2022)	45.67 (2022)	31.17	45.67	38.42 (2022)	38.42
54	Brazil	23.16 (2022)	43.2 (2022)	29.21	46.49	33.18 (2022)	37.85
55	Cyprus	44.27 (2022)	37.19 (2022)	44.71	28.48	40.73 (2022)	36.6
56	Georgia	33.11 (2022)	32.68 (2022)	38.16	33.47	32.9 (2022)	35.82
57	Colombia	22.97 (2022)	38.79 (2022)	27.05	43.26	30.88 (2022)	35.16
58	Ecuador	25.99 (2017)	44.18 (2017)	25.99	44.18	35.08 (2017)	35.08
59	Uruguay	34.75 (2018)	41.58 (2022)	29.34	40.79	38.16 (2018)	35.06
60	Thailand	28.53 (2022)	31.08 (2022)	34.62	34.08	29.8 (2022)	34.35
61	North Macedonia	32.88 (2022)	25.66 (2022)	36.99	31.33	29.27 (2022)	34.16
62	Iran	25.98 (2023)	-	33.85	-	25.98 (2023)	33.85
63	Tunisia	21.19 (2015)	23.9 (2015)	31.1	36.53	22.54 (2015)	33.82
64	Costa Rica	20.36 (2022)	38.27 (2022)	21.6	37.91	29.31 (2022)	29.76
65	Azerbaijan	36.43 (2022)	29.48 (2022)	24.59	32.21	32.96 (2022)	28.4
66	Indonesia	16.47 (2022)	22.86 (2022)	23.14	31.85	19.67 (2022)	27.5
67	Argentina	20.52 (2022)	34.48 (2022)	19.24	33.07	27.5 (2022)	26.16
68	Jordan	15.74 (2022)	18.75 (2022)	22.23	29.99	17.25 (2022)	26.11
69	Panama	12.51 (2022)	32.74 (2022)	12.14	33.46	22.63 (2022)	22.8
70	Palestine	15.32 (2023)	22.28 (2022)	17.14	22.28	18.8 (2023)	19.71
71	Paraguay	11.63 (2022)	27.01 (2022)	11.63	27.01	19.32 (2022)	19.32
72	Uzbekistan	19.02 (2022)	13.86 (2022)	19.02	13.86	16.44 (2022)	16.44
73	Philippines	12.82 (2022)	19.02 (2022)	12.82	19.02	15.92 (2022)	15.92
74	Kyrgyzstan	13.06 (2009)	16.39 (2009)	13.06	16.39	14.73 (2009)	14.73
75	El Salvador	7.57 (2022)	19.89 (2022)	7.57	19.89	13.73 (2022)	13.73
76	Honduras	9.12 (2017)	17.55 (2017)	9.12	17.55	13.34 (2017)	13.34
77	Dominican Republic	6.75 (2022)	21.96 (2022)	6.27	20.14	14.35 (2022)	13.2
78	Algeria	11.79 (2015)	13.02 (2015)	11.79	13.02	12.4 (2015)	12.4
79	Guatemala	7.23 (2022)	17.46 (2022)	7.23	17.46	12.35 (2022)	12.34
80	Morocco	8.5 (2022)	8.72 (2022)	8.5	8.72	8.61 (2022)	8.61
81	Syria	7.54 (2011)	-	7.54	-	7.54 (2011)	7.54
82	Ghana	2.52 (2011)	-	5.93	-	2.52 (2011)	5.93
83	Cambodia	6.63 (2022)	4.38 (2022)	6.63	4.38	5.51 (2022)	5.5
84	Senegal	2.03 (2017)	2.28 (2017)	2.03	2.28	2.15 (2017)	2.15
85	Zambia	1.05 (2017)	2.3 (2017)	1.05	2.3	1.67 (2017)	1.67
86	Ivory Coast	0.29 (2023)	-	0.29	-	0.29 (2023)	0.29

Data Methodology

What We Measured: We analyzed secondary school student proficiency in mathematics and reading across 86 countries. The primary metric is Overall Performance, calculated as the average of math and reading proficiency. For countries with only one subject available, we use that single score as the overall performance. This provides a comprehensive view of student achievement in lower secondary education across core subjects.

Data Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) - SDG 4 Indicator 4.1.0 "Preparedness for the Future" for lower secondary education. This measures the proportion of students at lower secondary age who are prepared for the future in core subjects.

Important Context About the Data:

• Overall Performance Score: We calculate this as the average of math and reading proficiency. For example, if a country has 75% math proficiency and 85% reading proficiency, the overall score is 80%. For countries with data in only one subject, we use that single score as the overall performance.
• Different Years: Countries conduct assessments in different years. Most recent data ranges from 2000 to 2022. We use the most recent available data for each country, with the year shown in parentheses.
• Different Assessment Systems: Countries use different tests (TIMSS, PISA, national assessments). UNESCO standardizes these to comparable metrics, but some variation exists.
• Limited Coverage: Only 86 countries have sufficient secondary school assessment data. Many countries lack regular testing at this level.
• Math vs Reading Data: Some countries have math data but not reading data (or vice versa). This reflects which international assessments they participated in. When only one subject is available, we use it for the overall score.

2026 Projections Methodology: We calculated 2026 estimates using linear trend analysis on each country's historical assessment data. For countries with at least 3 assessment cycles, we performed linear regression separately for math and reading to identify performance trends. The regression equation projects future proficiency based on past patterns. For countries with limited data, we used the most recent value as the 2026 estimate. The Overall Performance 2026 Estimate is calculated as the average of math and reading projections (or the single subject projection if only one is available). Projections are constrained to 0-100% range. This approach assumes current trends continue, which is reasonable for education systems as they change gradually.

Why Years Vary: International assessments (TIMSS, PISA) occur every 3-4 years, not annually. Countries participate in different cycles. For example:

• Russia: 2018 data (most recent TIMSS cycle they participated in)
• Poland: 2022 data (participated in 2022 PISA cycle)
• Australia: 2022 data (recent PISA participation)

Important Limitations:

• Proficiency thresholds vary slightly by assessment system
• Some countries only test urban areas or selected schools
• Data reflects test performance, not all aspects of education quality
• Countries with very old data (pre-2010) may have changed significantly
• Secondary school dropout rates affect who gets tested—countries with high dropout may show inflated proficiency among remaining students