Top EU Countries by PISA Reading Scores

Key Takeaways

• Ireland ranks first among the 27 EU countries for PISA reading scores. Ireland’s reading gains since 2011 are linked to a national literacy strategy that added more literacy teaching in primary schools.
• Ireland and Estonia score above average in all PISA subjects. In both countries, family background has little effect on how well students do.
• PISA reading scores fell significantly in 22 of 26 EU countries with comparable data. The decline coincided with more classroom disruption, more missed school days and more time on social networks.
• Latvia’s PISA reading score fell by 45 points since 2022. It recorded the largest PISA reading decline among 74 countries and economies with comparable data.
• PISA reading scores were already falling before the pandemic. The decline coincided with students reading less for enjoyment and doing more of their reading online.
• Falling PISA reading scores are linked to a rise in hasty readers who answer quickly but incorrectly. Across OECD countries, the share of hasty readers rose from almost 7% to 11% since 2018.

PISA Reading Scores of 15-Year-Olds Across EU Countries

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Ireland and Estonia Have the Highest PISA Reading Scores in the EU

PISA is an international test that measures how well 15-year-olds read, do maths and understand science.

Ireland ranks first among the 27 EU countries for PISA reading scores. Irish students scored 500 points in PISA reading in 2025.

Ireland and Estonia are two of only seven education systems worldwide where students score well in PISA and family background has little effect on their results. In PISA, family background covers parents’ education, parents’ jobs and what the family has at home, such as books. In both countries, these factors explain less than 10% of the differences in students’ science scores.

Ireland’s PISA reading scores rose strongly between 2009 and 2018. Ireland’s reading gains are linked to a national literacy strategy launched in 2011.

Ireland’s literacy strategy increased the time primary schools spend teaching reading and writing. It also set national targets for PISA reading results.

Estonia stands out for how few students it leaves behind. In PISA 2022, Estonia was the only EU country where fewer than 15% of 15-year-olds fell below the basic level in reading, maths and science.

PISA Reading Scores Fell in 22 of 26 EU Countries Since 2022

PISA reading scores fell in 22 of the 26 EU countries with comparable data between 2022 and 2025.

PISA tests a sample of students, so small score changes can happen by chance. However, the drops in PISA reading scores in those 22 EU countries are too large to be chance. These drops reflect a real fall in reading performance, not a quirk of which students were tested.

The pandemic may have sped up changes in students’ habits and attitudes to school. Classrooms now also include more students who need extra language or learning support than schools can always provide.

Several changes coincided with the fall in PISA reading scores since 2022:

• Weaker focus and less effort on long, demanding texts
• More classroom disruption that cuts into teaching time
• More missed school days since the pandemic
• More time on social networks and video games
• Less reading for enjoyment among students and parents

Latvia’s 45-point fall in PISA reading scores since 2022 is the largest decline among 74 countries and economies with comparable data. Students typically gain about 20 PISA points over one school year.

Latvia’s 45-point drop is more than twice that yearly gain. The steep drop coincided with two major changes in Latvian schools:

• Updated standards for compulsory education in 2023
• A full switch to Latvian as the only language of instruction from 2023 to 2025

Even the EU’s two highest scorers recorded clear declines in PISA reading scores:

• Ireland’s score fell 16 points.
• Estonia’s score fell 12 points.

PISA Reading Scores Were Falling Before the Pandemic

PISA reading scores were already falling before COVID-19 closed schools. The average reading score across OECD member countries peaked around 2012.

The pre-pandemic decline in PISA reading scores coincided with weaker reading habits. Compared with PISA 2009, students tested in PISA 2018 showed these changes:

• More students read only when they had to
• Enjoyment of reading fell
• Students read fewer fiction books, magazines, and newspapers
• Students read more online, such as chats, searches, and news

Students who took the PISA test in 2025 grew up when personal digital devices spread quickly. The spread of personal devices may have favored short, fragmented reading over sustained reading.

Finland’s PISA reading score fell by an average of 55 points per decade since 2015. That decline reflects the same weaker reading habits, along with reading losing value across Finnish society.

Hasty Reading Is Linked to Falling PISA Reading Scores

Hasty readers are students who answer PISA reading questions quickly but incorrectly. The share of hasty readers across OECD countries rose from almost 7% to 11% between 2018 and 2025.

Between 2018 and 2022, PISA reading scores fell fastest on tasks built around longer texts. Long texts demand careful reading and connecting several pieces of information.

The rise in hasty readers and the sharper drop on long-text tasks may both reflect weaker focus on demanding texts. Sustained reading is strongly associated with building reading comprehension.

The EU’s falling PISA reading scores matter beyond reading, because students must understand a question’s text before they can solve a maths or science task. Countries with the largest PISA reading declines also tended to record the largest drops in PISA maths and science scores.