Israel’s scores in a key international test of student comprehension have dropped precipitously in the latest 2025 ranking, published today. It is now ranked 43rd in the world, down from 38th in the last test in 2022, and 33rd among developed countries, down from 31st. The 2025 score average is Israel’s lowest since it joined the survey in the year 2000.
The Programme for International Student Assessment tests, known as PISA, is a measure of 15-year-olds’ aptitude in reading, math and science run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It is carried out once every three years.
Israel lost an average of 29 points across all four subjects in the newly published 2025 results, the second sharpest decline of any country, after Latvia.
In reading, students scored 436, down from 474 in the 2022 test; in science, they were at 442, down from 465; and in math they scored 433, down from 458.
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