PISA remains one of the most watched cross-country measures of how well 15-year-old students can use mathematics, reading and science in real contexts. The latest core-domain cycle is now PISA 2025, released by the OECD on September 8, 2026. More than 760,000 students in 91 countries and economies took part, representing about 33 million 15-year-olds. The front of the 2025 results is led by B-S-J-Z (China) and Singapore, while Estonia, Japan, Korea, Macao (China), Chinese Taipei and the United Kingdom also appear among the ten highest-performing education systems in all three core domains. [OECD]
What Matters Before Reading Any PISA Table
- Latest core-domain release: PISA 2025.
- Focal subject: science.
- OECD averages: 463 in mathematics, 461 in reading and 482 in science.
- Highest mathematics score: B-S-J-Z (China), 612.
- Highest reading score: Singapore, 535.
- Highest science score: B-S-J-Z (China), 597.
- All-domain leader group: B-S-J-Z (China), Singapore, Macao (China), Chinese Taipei, Japan, Estonia, Korea and the United Kingdom were among the top ten systems in all three core domains.
PISA does not publish one official combined score across mathematics, reading and science. Each domain has its own scale. Results are also based on samples of students, so small score differences should not automatically be treated as firm differences in educational performance. [OECD]
Where The 2025 Leaders Stand
The 2025 results produce a clearer all-domain leader group than a simple ranking by one subject. B-S-J-Z (China) records the highest mathematics and science means, while Singapore leads reading and places second in both mathematics and science. Behind those two, Macao (China), Chinese Taipei, Japan, Estonia and Korea remain close to the front across multiple subjects rather than relying on one unusually strong domain. [OECD]
| Education System | Mathematics | Reading | Science | 2025 Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B-S-J-Z (China) | 612 | 527 | 597 | Highest in mathematics and science; second in reading. |
| Singapore | 563 | 535 | 560 | Highest in reading; second in mathematics and science. |
| Macao (China) | 549 | 501 | 541 | Near the front in all three core domains. |
| Chinese Taipei | 546 | 508 | 540 | Especially strong in mathematics, with high reading and science results. |
| Japan | 525 | 503 | 538 | One of the most balanced high-performing OECD systems. |
| Estonia | 508 | 499 | 527 | Highest-performing European Union system across the main leader group. |
| Korea | 522 | 501 | 526 | High mathematics and science performance with reading above the OECD average. |
| United Kingdom | 488 | 494 | 511 | Among the top ten systems in all three domains. |
The OECD averages provide the scale for those results: 463 in mathematics, 461 in reading and 482 in science. B-S-J-Z (China), Singapore, Macao (China), Chinese Taipei, Japan, Estonia and Korea therefore sit well above the OECD mean in every core subject. The United Kingdom also remains above the OECD averages in all three. [OECD]
Why B-S-J-Z (China) And Singapore Sit Apart
The gap at the very front is not limited to mean scores. B-S-J-Z (China) combines 612 in mathematics, 597 in science and 527 in reading. Across the three core domains, 55.5% of students were top performers in at least one subject, while only 1.8% were below Level 2 in all three. Singapore records 563 in mathematics, 560 in science and 535 in reading; 42.3% of its students were top performers in at least one core domain and 6.8% were below Level 2 in all three. The corresponding OECD averages were 11.9% and 19.7%. [OECD]
| Measure | B-S-J-Z (China) | Singapore | OECD Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics mean | 612 | 563 | 463 |
| Reading mean | 527 | 535 | 461 |
| Science mean | 597 | 560 | 482 |
| Top performer in at least one core domain | 55.5% | 42.3% | 11.9% |
| Below Level 2 in all three domains | 1.8% | 6.8% | 19.7% |
The distinction matters. A high national mean can come from different student distributions. In these two systems, the leader profile includes both a large high-performing group and a relatively small group falling below baseline across all three subjects. B-S-J-Z (China) is especially unusual on this measure because more than half of students reached Level 5 or 6 in at least one core domain. [OECD]
The Patterns Behind The Leading Group
Mathematics Still Has A Strong East Asian Center
Mathematics remains the domain where the upper end is most concentrated in East Asian education systems. B-S-J-Z (China) leads with 612, followed by Singapore at 563, Macao (China) at 549 and Chinese Taipei at 546. Japan records 525, while Korea and Hong Kong (China) both record 522. Estonia, at 508, is the highest mathematics performer in the European Union. [OECD]
The distribution of advanced mathematics performance shows an equally concentrated pattern. The shares reaching Level 5 or 6 were 54% in B-S-J-Z (China), 37% in Singapore, 32% in Chinese Taipei, 29% in Macao (China), 23% in Korea, 22% in Japan and 21% in Hong Kong (China). The OECD average was 8%. Only 13 participating countries and economies had more than 10% of students at these two levels. [OECD]
The mathematics leader group therefore reflects more than a handful of students producing exceptional scores. Several of these systems combine very high averages with large advanced-proficiency groups and comparatively high shares reaching at least the baseline level. Singapore, for example, has 89% of students at Level 2 or higher in mathematics, compared with 65% across OECD countries. [OECD]
Reading Produces A Different Order
Reading changes the sequence. Singapore takes first place with 535, ahead of B-S-J-Z (China) at 527. Chinese Taipei records 508, Japan 503, Macao (China) and Korea 501, Ireland 500 and Estonia 499. The United Kingdom follows at 494. The reading results place a wider mix of education systems near the front than mathematics does, while the two overall leaders remain the same. [OECD]
Singapore also retains unusual depth in reading. 86% of students reached Level 2 or higher, compared with 69% across OECD countries, while 22% reached Level 5 or higher against an OECD average of 6%. B-S-J-Z (China) has an even larger baseline-proficiency share at 93%, although Singapore records the higher reading mean. Chinese Taipei and Korea each have 82% of students reaching Level 2 or higher. [OECD]
Science Brings Estonia Into The Front Group
Science was the focal domain in PISA 2025. B-S-J-Z (China) leads at 597, followed by Singapore at 560. Macao (China), Chinese Taipei and Japan form a close band at 541, 540 and 538. Estonia records 527 and Korea 526. The United Kingdom is next at 511, followed by Canada at 510 and New Zealand and Australia at 509. [OECD]
Estonia remains one of the clearest European all-domain performers. Its 2025 means are 508 in mathematics, 499 in reading and 527 in science. In science, only 9.9% of Estonian students were below Level 2, compared with 25.7% across OECD countries, while 11.3% reached Level 5 or 6. That combination helps explain why Estonia appears in the all-domain leader group rather than as a specialist in only one subject. [OECD]
PISA Still Should Not Be Turned Into One Total Score
The temptation to add the three subject scores together becomes stronger when the same systems appear repeatedly near the top, but such a total is not an official PISA measure. Mathematics, reading and science remain separate scales. A system can therefore be described as among the leading systems across all three domains without assigning it an invented overall PISA score.
That distinction also applies to close neighbors in a table. Macao (China) scores 541 in science and Chinese Taipei 540, while Estonia and Korea record 527 and 526. Such small differences should not be used as evidence of a clear educational gap without considering the uncertainty attached to the estimates. OECD comparison tables explicitly identify systems whose mean results cannot be reliably separated from one another. [OECD]
What Changed From PISA 2022 To PISA 2025
The broad OECD trend moved lower again in reading and mathematics. Across the OECD comparison used for short-term change, reading fell by about 14 points and mathematics by 9 points between 2022 and 2025. Science performance was broadly stable. PISA 2025 now records the lowest OECD-average performance observed so far across all three core domains. [OECD]
| Domain | PISA 2022 OECD Average | PISA 2025 OECD Average | Short-Term OECD Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 472 | 463 | About −9 points |
| Reading | 476 | 461 | About −14 points in the comparable OECD group |
| Science | 485 | 482 | Broadly stable in the comparable OECD group |
The leading systems did not all move in the same direction. Singapore changed by −12 points in mathematics, −8 in reading and −2 in science. Macao (China) changed by −3 in mathematics, −9 in reading and −2 in science. Chinese Taipei recorded −1 in mathematics, −7 in reading and +2 in science. Japan recorded lower means in all three compared with 2022, while Korea remained about the same in mathematics and science but recorded a lower reading result. [OECD]
B-S-J-Z (China) requires different treatment in a short-term trend comparison. It did not have a PISA 2022 result that can be placed beside its 2025 scores, so the OECD tables mark the 2022-to-2025 change as unavailable. Its return to the dataset is one reason the 2025 leader table looks different from the 2022 table, when Singapore stood alone at the top of all three domains.
Longer trends also separate some systems from the general direction. Between 2015 and 2025, science performance rose in several participating systems, including Macao (China), Lithuania, the Slovak Republic, Türkiye, the Dominican Republic, Georgia, Montenegro, Qatar, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay. High current performance and positive long-run movement therefore overlap in Macao (China), even though its 2022-to-2025 changes were small in mathematics and science. [OECD]
Equity Changes The Leader Group Again
Mean scores show only one part of an education system. PISA 2025 also examines inclusion and the relationship between student performance and socio-economic background. Across OECD countries, socio-economic status accounted for about 12% of within-country variation in science performance. Some high-performing systems combined strong means with a weaker relationship between background and results. [OECD]
Seven systems stand out in the OECD analysis: B-S-J-Z (China), Canada, Estonia, Ireland, Japan, Korea and Macao (China). Each combined more than 75% of students reaching at least Level 2 in science, less than 10% of science-performance variation associated with socio-economic status, and performance above the OECD average across the core subjects. [OECD]
This changes the interpretation of “top performing.” B-S-J-Z (China), Estonia, Japan, Korea and Macao (China) appear not only in the high-score discussion but also in the group combining high inclusion, a comparatively weak socio-economic gradient and strong overall outcomes. Ireland enters through a different profile: it is not near the mathematics lead, yet it remains strong in reading and performs well on the OECD’s inclusion and fairness measures.
Hong Kong (China) presents another useful case. Socio-economic status accounted for about 6% of variation in science performance there, compared with 12% across OECD countries, while advantaged students outperformed disadvantaged students by 69 points in science compared with an OECD average gap of 85 points. Its mathematics result remains very high at 522 even though its reading and science means place it outside the small all-domain group listed above. [OECD]
School Climate Adds Another Measure Of Performance
PISA 2025 also reports changes in school climate. A larger share of students reported feeling that they belong at school in 39 education systems compared with 2022, while fewer students reported feeling lonely at school in 48 systems. The disciplinary climate in science lessons improved between 2015 and 2025 in 37 systems, with Korea among the systems showing a particularly strong result on that measure. [OECD]
Among the current academic leaders, Korea and Japan report high disciplinary-climate index values in the PISA 2025 snapshot, while B-S-J-Z (China) and Chinese Taipei also sit above the OECD average on that measure. These indicators do not replace achievement scores, but they add information about the learning conditions in which those scores are produced.
Computational Problem Solving Creates A Different 2025 Ranking
PISA 2025 also assessed computational problem solving, reported separately from mathematics, reading and science. The OECD average was 500. Macao (China) led with 572, followed by Singapore at 563, B-S-J-Z (China) at 560 and Japan at 557. Chinese Taipei also performed near the front at 551. [OECD]
| Education System | Computational Problem-Solving Score | Core-Domain Position |
|---|---|---|
| Macao (China) | 572 | Among the top ten in mathematics, reading and science. |
| Singapore | 563 | Top two across all three core domains. |
| B-S-J-Z (China) | 560 | Highest in mathematics and science; second in reading. |
| Japan | 557 | Among the top ten in all three core domains. |
| Chinese Taipei | 551 | Among the top ten in all three core domains. |
This extra domain does not create an official overall PISA ranking either. It does show, however, that several of the education systems already strong in the three core subjects also perform strongly when students must solve problems through computational processes. Macao (China) is especially notable because it ranks near the front in the core domains and leads this separate measure. [OECD]
How The Main 2025 Leaders Differ
| System | Strongest 2025 Evidence | What Separates It |
|---|---|---|
| B-S-J-Z (China) | 612 mathematics; 597 science; 527 reading | Highest mathematics and science means, the largest advanced-performance profile and very few students below baseline in all three subjects. |
| Singapore | 535 reading; 563 mathematics; 560 science | Highest reading mean and second place behind B-S-J-Z (China) in mathematics and science. |
| Macao (China) | 549 mathematics; 541 science; 572 computational problem solving | Strong across all core domains and first in computational problem solving. |
| Chinese Taipei | 546 mathematics; 540 science; 508 reading | Very large advanced mathematics group and high scores across all core subjects. |
| Japan | 538 science; 525 mathematics; 503 reading | One of the strongest balanced OECD profiles and part of the high-performance, high-inclusion group. |
| Estonia | 527 science; 508 mathematics; 499 reading | Leading European Union profile with low science underperformance and strong inclusion. |
| Korea | 526 science; 522 mathematics; 501 reading | Strong all-domain results, a large advanced mathematics group and favorable inclusion measures. |
The latest results therefore produce two different layers of leadership. B-S-J-Z (China) and Singapore form the clear front pair by mean performance. Macao (China), Chinese Taipei, Japan, Estonia and Korea form a second group that repeatedly appears near the top across subjects, proficiency measures or equity indicators. Hong Kong (China) remains a mathematics stand-out, while Ireland, Canada and the United Kingdom enter the discussion through strong reading, science, inclusion or balanced cross-domain results. [OECD]