Japanese students rank among top in 2025 OECD test despite score declines

Japanese students consistently ranked among the top performers in an international learning assessment conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2025, despite experiencing declines in their average scores across reading, science, and math. In the assessment, which included over 760,000 15-year-olds from 91 countries and economies, Japan led the 38 OECD members, whose average scores for the three subjects dropped.

However, Japan's ranking fell from second in science to fifth place, from third to fourth in reading, and remained fifth in mathematics. China, represented by students from Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, achieved the highest scores in science and mathematics, while Singapore topped the rankings in reading. The assessment, known as the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), highlighted a growing disparity between high- and low-scoring Japanese students, with the overall reading score declining by 13 points to 503.

Additionally, Japanese students' average scores in science and math dropped to 538 and 525, respectively, while the differences from the previous assessment were not statistically significant. The proportion of students at the lowest proficiency level increased across all three subjects, while those at higher levels remained largely unchanged.

Interestingly, Japanese students utilized artificial intelligence less frequently in their studies compared to their peers in other OECD countries. These results emerged during discussions by the education ministry's Central Council for Education, which is expected to emphasize the use of AI and information evaluation in curriculum guidelines.