The reading decline is bigger than a handful of country setbacks. Between 2018 and 2025, scores fell significantly in 56 of 74 education systems with comparable data.
Only five systems improved. Each still performed significantly below the OECD average. The exceptions matter, and they did not reverse the wider picture.
Three quarters of comparable systems lost ground
The OECD compared mean reading scores over seven years and tested whether each change was statistically significant. The remaining 13 systems showed no statistically significant change. That count is the residual after subtracting the 56 declines and five improvements from 74.
Significant reading declines far outnumbered improvements
Education systems with comparable PISA reading results · 2018–2025 · count
The OECD identifies 56 significant declines and five improvements among 74 systems. The remaining 13 are calculated from those published counts and had no significant change. Systems and economies are counted equally here.
The average fall continued after 2022
Across 35 OECD countries with comparable data, mean reading performance fell 11 points from 2018 to 2022, then another 14 by 2025. The second drop was larger. PISA describes a seven-year slide across successive groups of 15-year-olds, not a loss measured in the same students.
OECD reading scores fell in both periods
Mean reading score · 35 OECD countries with comparable data · PISA points
Rounded scores come from the OECD comparable-system series. The OECD reports changes of −11 points in 2018–2022 and −14 in 2022–2025; rounded displayed scores may not subtract exactly.
Progress still has distance to cover
The five systems that improved had a real gain compared with their own earlier results. Each nevertheless remained significantly below the OECD mean in 2025. Improvement and being at the OECD average measure different things.
For education leaders, the next question is what sustained improvement looks like: gains that continue across cycles and reach the reading skills students need to evaluate information, compare sources and explain what they have read. PISA identifies the trend; it cannot isolate one cause behind it.