UIS · Minimum Proficiency in Reading, End of Lower Secondary
Reading proficiency at the end of lower secondary by country
What share of 15-year-old students can read at a minimum level?
Of the 92 countries compared in the 2022 edition, Singapore had the highest reading, 88.83%, and Zambia had the lowest reading, 5.04%. In the middle country the figure was 58.97%. 2 readings from before 2012 are listed but not compared.
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Part ofEducation & Knowledge
Reading proficiency at the end of lower secondary · the 2022 edition
Context statistic
Highest of 92Singapore
88.83%01the 2022 edition · values only
Who leads
The three countries at the highest end of 92 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
1Photo: Khairul Nizam . · CC BY 2.0, greyscale
2Photo: derivative work: Jjtkk · CC BY-SA 2.0, greyscale
3Photo: Guido Radig,Inkey · CC BY 3.0, greyscale
02Every measured country
Reading 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.
- 5.04–32.23%
- 33.11–51.24%
- 52.00–70.71%
- 70.74–77.77%
- 77.91–88.83%
- Hatched: a reading from before 2012, listed but not compared (2)
- No reading in the 2022 edition
- Europe
74.61%
the middle country, of 40 measured · 49 members
Ireland88.56%
Albania26.29%Highest and lowest reading in Europe.
- Americas
49.59%
the middle country, of 19 measured · 48 members
Canada81.85%
Dominican Republic24.59%Highest and lowest reading in Americas.
- Asia
38.40%
the middle country, of 26 measured · 52 members
Singapore88.83%
Cambodia7.92%Highest and lowest reading in Asia.
- Africa
18.92%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 55 members
Tunisia28.42%
Zambia5.04%Highest and lowest reading in Africa.
- Oceania
2 of 21 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
New Zealand79.27%
Australia78.81%Highest and lowest reading in Oceania.
- Every region
16 sub-regions, highest middle country first
- Eastern Asia
85.32%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 8 members
Macau87.36%
Mongolia35.91%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Northern Europe
77.88%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 13 members
Ireland88.56%
Iceland60.29%Highest and lowest reading in Northern Europe.
- Western Europe
74.61%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 9 members
Liechtenstein87.62%
Netherlands65.42%Highest and lowest reading in Western Europe.
- Eastern Europe
69.33%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 10 members
Czechia78.66%
Bulgaria47.13%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Southern Europe
63.64%
the middle country, of 12 measured · 17 members
Italy78.61%Albania26.29%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Europe.
- South America
49.50%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 12 members
Chile66.27%
Paraguay33.76%Highest and lowest reading in South America.
- South-eastern Asia
38.23%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 11 members
Singapore88.83%Cambodia7.92%Highest and lowest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Western Asia
37.40%
the middle country, of 11 measured · 19 members
Türkiye70.74%
Jordan20.43%Highest and lowest reading in Western Asia.
- Central America
36.91%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 8 members
Mexico53.02%
El Salvador27.97%Highest and lowest reading in Central America.
- Australia and New Zealand
2 of 2 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
New Zealand79.27%Australia78.81%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 Tobago57.52%Dominican Republic24.59%Highest and lowest reading in Caribbean.
- Central Asia
2 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan.
Kazakhstan36.28%
Uzbekistan14.07%Highest and lowest reading in Central Asia.
- Eastern Africa
1 of 19 measured — too few for a middle: Zambia.
Zambia5.04%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Northern Africa
3 of 6 measured — too few for a middle: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia.
Tunisia28.42%
Morocco18.92%Highest and lowest reading in Northern Africa.
- Northern America
2 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada, United States.
Canada81.85%
United States79.87%Highest and lowest reading in Northern America.
- Western Africa
1 of 16 measured — too few for a middle: Senegal.
Senegal8.66%Highest and lowest reading in Western Africa.
03The whole field at once
The spread
92 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 58.97%; a quarter are above 76.65%, and a quarter below 36.19%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 94 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. A country’s place here tracks its PISA reading score closely; what this adds is the size of the group left below the basic level. A few readings cover only part of a country. No position is derived, and readings more than ten years older than the edition are listed but not compared.
Showing 25 of 94 countries
Values for the 2022 edition.
05In this edition
Reading 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
88.83%
Students at the end of lower secondary reaching minimum proficiency in reading (%)
Lowest reading
5.04%
Students at the end of lower secondary reaching minimum proficiency in reading (%)
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 90 countries with both readings, the female reading is higher in 90, the male reading in 0. The widest gaps each way:
1 country's readings are too old to compare and are left out; they are still listed under Every country.
07The measure
About reading 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 reading, SDG indicator 4.1.1. Almost every reading comes from the OECD’s PISA survey, so this is the share of students who clear PISA’s basic level rather than the average score.
What the number is: Students at the end of lower secondary reaching minimum proficiency in reading (%).
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 reading proficiency at the end of lower secondary is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Minimum Proficiency in Mathematics, End of Lower SecondaryUIS · 91 countries in commonρ 0.92
- Learning-Adjusted Years of SchoolWorld Bank Group · 91 countries in commonρ 0.90
- Harmonized Test ScoresWorld Bank Group · 91 countries in commonρ 0.89
Moves against
Where reading proficiency at the end of lower secondary is higher, these tend to be lower.
- Stillbirth RateUN IGME · 89 countries in commonρ −0.82
- Gender Inequality IndexUNDP Human Development Report Office · 87 countries in commonρ −0.78
- Under-Five Mortality RateKeyUN IGME · 89 countries in commonρ −0.74
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 257 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
10Questions
Reading proficiency at the end of lower secondary: questions and answers
Which country has the highest reading proficiency at the end of lower secondary?
Singapore, at 88.83%, among the 92 countries compared in the 2022 edition.
Which country has the lowest reading proficiency at the end of lower secondary?
Zambia, at 5.04%, among the 92 countries compared in the 2022 edition.
How many countries does the Minimum Proficiency in Reading, End of Lower Secondary cover?
92 in the 2022 edition, and 94 at least once across all editions.
What is the world average reading 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 92 compared in the 2022 edition, the figure was 58.97%.
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 Reading, End of Lower Secondary published?
This site holds one edition, describing 2022.
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 (READ.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 Reading, End of Lower Secondary — UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
From the UNESCO Institute for Statistics data API (READ.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 2022Data 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 2012 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.
- Singapore — Khairul Nizam ., CC BY 2.0
- Ireland — derivative work: Jjtkk, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Liechtenstein — Guido Radig,Inkey, CC BY 3.0
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Reading proficiency at the end of lower secondary by country: Minimum Proficiency in Reading, End of Lower Secondary, data from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/reading-proficiency-lower-secondary