UIS · Minimum Proficiency in Mathematics, End of Lower Secondary
Maths proficiency at the end of lower secondary by country
What share of students reach a minimum level in mathematics by the end of lower secondary school?
Of the 98 countries compared in the 2023 edition, Japan had the highest reading, 91.730%, and Côte d’Ivoire had the lowest reading, 0.730%. In the middle country the figure was 49.654%. 5 readings from before 2013 are listed but not compared.
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Part ofEducation & Knowledge
Maths proficiency at the end of lower secondary · the 2023 edition
Context statistic
Highest of 98Japan
91.730%01the 2023 edition · values only
Who leads
The three countries at the highest end of 98 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
1Photo: JurriaanH · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
2Photo: Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
3Photo: Khairul Nizam . · CC BY 2.0, greyscale
Lowest in the 2023 edition
Côte d’Ivoire0.730%
Zambia2.298%
Dominican Republic7.560%
Where a country sits says how it compares with the others measured, and nothing about why.
02Every measured country
Maths proficiency at the end of lower secondary on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a higher value — the better end.
- 0.730–24.450%
- 25.194–40.400%
- 40.500–62.750%
- 64.630–73.650%
- 74.480–91.730%
- Hatched: a reading from before 2013, listed but not compared (5)
- No reading in the 2023 edition
- Europe
70.637%
the middle country, of 39 measured · 49 members
Estonia85.030%
Albania26.050%Highest and lowest reading in Europe.
- Asia
40.400%
the middle country, of 31 measured · 52 members
Japan91.730%
Cambodia11.990%Highest and lowest reading in Asia.
- Americas
27.070%
the middle country, of 19 measured · 48 members
Canada78.370%Dominican Republic7.560%Highest and lowest reading in Americas.
- Africa
18.430%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 55 members
Egypt26.838%Côte d’Ivoire0.730%Highest and lowest reading in Africa.
- Oceania
2 of 21 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
Australia73.650%
New Zealand71.250%Highest and lowest reading in Oceania.
- Every region
17 sub-regions, highest middle country first
- Eastern Asia
86.160%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 8 members
Japan91.730%
Mongolia48.900%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Northern Europe
75.410%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 13 members
Estonia85.030%
Iceland65.880%Highest and lowest reading in Northern Europe.
- Western Europe
72.782%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
Switzerland80.550%
Germany70.500%Highest and lowest reading in Western Europe.
- Eastern Europe
65.710%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 10 members
Russia78.357%
Moldova44.240%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Southern Europe
59.155%
the middle country, of 12 measured · 17 members
Slovenia75.410%Albania26.050%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Europe.
- South-eastern Asia
36.375%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 11 members
Singapore89.340%Cambodia11.990%Highest and lowest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Western Asia
33.550%
the middle country, of 15 measured · 19 members
Israel62.750%
Palestine15.710%Highest and lowest reading in Western Asia.
- South America
27.930%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 12 members
Uruguay43.490%
Paraguay14.540%Highest and lowest reading in South America.
- Central America
15.789%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 8 members
Mexico34.180%
El Salvador10.650%Highest and lowest reading in Central America.
- Australia and New Zealand
2 of 2 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
Australia73.650%New Zealand71.250%Highest and lowest reading in Australia and New Zealand.
- Caribbean
3 of 24 measured — too few for a middle: Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago.
Trinidad and Tobago47.747%Dominican Republic7.560%Highest and lowest reading in Caribbean.
- Central Asia
2 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan.
Kazakhstan50.420%
Uzbekistan19.310%Highest and lowest reading in Central Asia.
- Eastern Africa
1 of 19 measured — too few for a middle: Zambia.
Zambia2.298%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Northern Africa
4 of 6 measured — too few for a middle: Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia.
Egypt26.838%
Morocco18.430%Highest and lowest reading in Northern Africa.
- Northern America
2 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada, United States.
Canada78.370%
United States66.080%Highest and lowest reading in Northern America.
- Southern Asia
1 of 9 measured — too few for a middle: Iran.
Iran28.550%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Asia.
- Western Africa
2 of 16 measured — too few for a middle: Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal.
Senegal7.708%Côte d’Ivoire0.730%Highest and lowest reading in Western Africa.
03The whole field at once
The spread
98 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 49.654%; a quarter are above 72.080%, and a quarter below 26.800%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 103 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first. No rank or position is shown: too many countries share the same value for an order to mean anything. PISA and TIMSS set different minimum levels and test different ages, and UNESCO says results from different assessments cannot be compared directly, so no position is derived; the assessment behind each row is named beside it. The lowest reading comes with the assessment’s own warning that it could not be reliably estimated. Readings more than ten years older than the edition are listed but not compared.
Showing 25 of 103 countries
Values for the 2023 edition.
05In this edition
Maths proficiency at the end of lower secondary in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading
91.730%
Students at the end of lower secondary reaching minimum proficiency in mathematics (%)
Lowest reading
0.730%
Students at the end of lower secondary reaching minimum proficiency in mathematics (%)
06By sex
Inside the number
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) also publishes separate female and male readings. The gap between them, where both exist.
Of the 96 countries with both readings, the female reading is higher in 45, the male reading in 51. The widest gaps each way:
3 countries' readings are too old to compare and are left out; they are still listed under Every country.
07The measure
About maths proficiency at the end of lower secondary
This is the share of students at the end of lower secondary school — around age 15 — who reach at least a minimum level in mathematics, SDG indicator 4.1.1. The readings come from the OECD’s PISA survey and, for some countries, the TIMSS study of eighth-graders.
What the number is: Students at the end of lower secondary reaching minimum proficiency in mathematics (%).
08Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Education & Knowledge, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Moves with
Where maths proficiency at the end of lower secondary is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Minimum Proficiency in Reading, End of Lower SecondaryUIS · 91 countries in commonρ 0.92
- Learning-Adjusted Years of SchoolWorld Bank Group · 98 countries in commonρ 0.92
- Human Capital IndexWorld Bank Group · 98 countries in commonρ 0.91
Moves against
Where maths proficiency at the end of lower secondary is higher, these tend to be lower.
- Learning PovertyWorld Bank Group and UNESCO Institute for Statistics · 80 countries in commonρ −0.91
- Stillbirth RateUN IGME · 96 countries in commonρ −0.85
- Gender Inequality IndexUNDP Human Development Report Office · 94 countries in commonρ −0.84
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 286 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
09Keep reading
Explore further
The subject
The data, edition by edition
The countries at either end
10Questions
Maths proficiency at the end of lower secondary: questions and answers
Which country has the highest maths proficiency at the end of lower secondary?
Japan, at 91.730%, among the 98 countries compared in the 2023 edition.
Which country has the lowest maths proficiency at the end of lower secondary?
Côte d’Ivoire, at 0.730%, among the 98 countries compared in the 2023 edition.
How many countries does the Minimum Proficiency in Mathematics, End of Lower Secondary cover?
98 in the 2023 edition, and 103 at least once across all editions.
What is the world average maths proficiency at the end of lower secondary?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 98 compared in the 2023 edition, the figure was 49.654%.
Is this UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)’s own ranking?
No ranking is shown. UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) publishes values only, and too many countries share the same value for an ordering to mean anything, so none is derived.
How often is the Minimum Proficiency in Mathematics, End of Lower Secondary published?
This site holds one edition, describing 2023.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), under CC BY-SA 4.0. From the UNESCO Institute for Statistics data API (MATH.LOWERSEC), latest available reading per country, with UIS’s own footnote naming the assessment. Female and male shares are stored beside the headline. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
11Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Minimum Proficiency in Mathematics, End of Lower Secondary — UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
From the UNESCO Institute for Statistics data API (MATH.LOWERSEC), latest available reading per country, with UIS’s own footnote naming the assessment. Female and male shares are stored beside the headline.
Newest edition
Report year 2023Data year not recorded
Cite the source as: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. UIS Data Browser. Montreal: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0, checked 2026-09-29.
How this page reads the numbers
- No rank or position is shown: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) publishes values only, and too many countries share the same value for an ordering to mean anything.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- The file gives each country’s most recent reading, so the rows are from different years. Readings from before 2013 are listed but left out of every comparison on this page.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Photographs
The countries at the top of this statistic, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.
- Japan — JurriaanH, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Macau — Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Singapore — Khairul Nizam ., CC BY 2.0
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Maths proficiency at the end of lower secondary by country: Minimum Proficiency in Mathematics, End of Lower Secondary, data from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/maths-proficiency-lower-secondary