Japanese Students Earn Top Scores among OECD Countries in PISA

Tokyo, Sept. 8 (Jiji Press)--Japanese students earned top scores among the 38 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in all three major domains of the OECD Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, for the first time in 2025, according to the results released on Tuesday.

Among all participating countries and regions, Japanese students ranked fifth in science with 538 points, down 9 points from the previous time, fifth in mathematics with 525 points, down 11 points, and fourth in reading with 503 points, down 13 points.

Singapore and the region grouping Beijing, Shanghai and the Chinese provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang dominated the top two positions in the three key domains. Macao and Taiwan also ranked high.

In 2025, a total of about 760,000 students aged 15 from 91 countries and regions participated in the assessment, including about 6,500 Japanese high school students.

Japanese students also excelled in the innovative domain “Learning in the Digital World,” ranking first among the OECD countries. A Japanese education ministry official attributed this result to “improvements in teaching based on the current curriculum guidelines and the development of a digital learning environment.”

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]