The PISA 2025 study reveals an alarming decline in students' mathematical and reading skills / Romania has surpassed the 50% threshold for functional illiteracy in Mathematics

The PISA 2025 results show a deterioration in students' mathematical and reading skills worldwide, with Germany performing increasingly poorly. The report of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, presented on Tuesday, September 8, includes data from 91 states and territories.

In Romania, 38.5% of students achieved results below the basic level in all three assessed skills: Mathematics, Science, and Reading. The share is 5.3 percentage points higher than in 2022.

The weakest results were recorded in Mathematics, where 52% of students do not reach the minimum proficiency level, compared with 49% in the previous edition. In Reading, the percentage reached 48%, six percentage points above the 2022 level, while in Science it increased to 46%, compared with 44%.

For the first time, the study also assessed the ability to solve problems with the help of digital tools. Only 43% of Romanian students exceeded the basic level, meaning that 57% do not reach the minimum threshold. The OECD average is 64%.

At the same time, the share of high-performing students decreased slightly, from 5% in 2022 to 4.8% in 2025. Across the OECD, 65% of students achieve basic proficiency in Mathematics, 74% in Science, and 69% in Reading.