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PISA Rankings 2022 Country Table: Singapore #1 in Maths, Reading and Science

Published: 24 Jul 2026
9 min read
PISA Rankings 2022 country table — Singapore ranked #1 in maths, reading and science

UpdatedPISA 2025 results are out — see Singapore's full 2025 rankings for reading, mathematics, science, and computational problem solving.

In PISA 2022, the OECD's global benchmark of 15-year-olds' skills, Singapore ranked #1 in mathematics (575), reading (543), and science (561) — the only country or economy to top all three domains that cycle. Below is the full ranked table for the top 20 of 81 participating countries/economies in 2022, plus a look at how Singapore's PISA 2025 results compare — published on 8 September 2026.

#1
Singapore, All 3 Domains
81
Countries/Economies in 2022
~690K
Students Tested (2022)
8 Sep 2026
PISA 2025 Results Published
Released
2022 Cycle
PISA 2022

The full country-by-country breakdown for maths, reading and science from this cycle — the numbers in the table below.

  • 81 countries & economies
  • ~690,000 students tested
Released
Latest Cycle
PISA 2025

Sat by 15-year-olds during 2025, with science as the major domain. The OECD published its international report on 8 September 2026.

  • 91 countries & economies
  • Full country table in the results section below

PISA 2022 Full Country Rankings Table

The table below shows the top 20 of 81 countries and economies that took part in PISA 2022, ranked by mathematics mean score, with reading and science mean scores alongside. All figures come directly from the OECD PISA 2022 Results (Volume I) tables — see the Sources section below for links. Scroll the table horizontally on mobile; the country column stays pinned so you can always see which row you're reading.

Country / EconomyMathsReadingScience
1. Singapore#1575543561
2. Macao (China)552510543
3. Chinese Taipei547515537
4. Hong Kong (China)540500520
5. Japan536516547
6. Korea527515528
7. Estonia510511526
8. Switzerland508483503
9. Canada497507515
10. Netherlands493459488
11. Ireland492516504
12. Belgium489479491
13. Denmark489489494
14. United Kingdom489494500
15. Poland489489499
16. Australia487498507
17. Austria487480491
18. Czech Republic487489498
19. Slovenia485469500
20. Finland484490511
OECD average472476485

Coverage: top 20 of 81 PISA 2022 participating countries/economies shown, sorted by mathematics mean score. Source: OECD, PISA 2022 Results (Volume I). “Chinese Taipei”, “Macao (China)”, “Hong Kong (China)”, and “Korea” are the OECD's official participant names. Full 81-economy table: see Sources below.

Cite this page

SGSchoolKaki. “PISA Rankings 2022 Country Table: Singapore #1 in Maths, Reading and Science.” Published 24 Jul 2026. https://sgschoolkaki.com/blog/pisa-rankings-country-table-2022-2025. Underlying data: OECD, PISA 2022 Results (Volume I).

Singapore's #1 Position, Explained

Singapore is the only country or economy that ranked first in all three PISA 2022 domains: mathematics (575 points), reading (543 points), and science (561 points) — gaps of 103, 67, and 76 points respectively above the OECD averages (472 / 476 / 485). Using the commonly-cited PISA benchmark that roughly 20–40 score points equal one year of schooling, that mathematics gap alone is more than two years of learning ahead of the average 15-year-old across OECD countries.

Singapore's closest rivals in mathematics were also from East Asia: Macao (China) (552), Chinese Taipei (547), and Hong Kong (China) (540). In reading, the gap to second place was narrower — Ireland and Japan both scored 516, some 27 points behind Singapore's 543.

Not every economy sat the 2022 test. Four Chinese provinces/municipalities (Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang — published together in past cycles as “B-S-J-Z (China)”) and Lebanon did not have PISA 2022 results published, because they could not fully complete data collection amid COVID-19 disruptions. That matters because B-S-J-Z (China) topped PISA 2018 mathematics with 591 points — ahead of Singapore that cycle — so its absence from the 2022 table is one reason some analysts caveat Singapore's 2022 #1 as “#1 among economies that reported full results.”

PISA 2025 Results: Singapore's Latest Scores

PISA 2025 results were published by the OECD on 8 September 2026, testing 15-year-olds across 91 countries and economies with science as the major domain for the first time since 2015.

Singapore's PISA 2025 headline scores

  • Reading: 535 — 1st (OECD average 461)
  • Mathematics: 563 — 2nd (OECD average 463)
  • Science: 560 — 2nd (OECD average 482)
  • Computational Problem Solving: 563 — 2nd (OECD average 500)

B-S-J-Z (China) led mathematics (612) and science (597); Macao (China) led computational problem solving (572). Against Singapore's own PISA 2022 sweep (reading 543, mathematics 575, science 561), the country held a top-two finish in every domain it sat in 2025.

Read the full PISA 2025 results for Singapore

How PISA Actually Works

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an OECD-run, triennial (every three years) study that measures 15-year-old students' reading, mathematics, and science literacy — not curriculum recall, but whether students can apply what they've learned to real-world problems. PISA 2022 sampled around 690,000 students, a group designed to be statistically representative of roughly 29 million 15-year-olds across the 81 participating countries and economies — schools and students within each country are randomly sampled, not hand-picked.

Each cycle rotates a “major domain” that gets deeper item coverage: reading was the major domain in 2018, mathematics in 2022, and science is the major domain in 2025. Between 2018 and 2022, OECD-average mathematics performance fell by a record 15 points and reading fell 10 points — the OECD attributes much of this to pandemic-era school disruption, while science performance did not change significantly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which country ranked #1 in PISA 2022?

Singapore ranked #1 in all three PISA 2022 domains: mathematics (575), reading (543), and science (561) — the only country/economy to top all three tables.

How many countries took part in PISA 2022?

81 countries and economies took part in PISA 2022, testing around 690,000 15-year-old students who represent about 29 million students worldwide. Results for Lebanon and four Chinese provinces (published together as "B-S-J-Z") were not released due to incomplete COVID-era data collection.

What are the OECD average scores in PISA 2022?

The OECD average scores in PISA 2022 were 472 in mathematics, 476 in reading, and 485 in science.

When were PISA 2025 results released?

PISA 2025 results were published by the OECD on 8 September 2026. Singapore ranked 1st in reading (535) and 2nd in mathematics (563), science (560), and computational problem solving (563).

What is the major domain in PISA 2025?

Science is the major (focal) domain in PISA 2025, meaning more test items are devoted to science than to the minor domains of reading and mathematics. PISA 2025 also introduces an optional Foreign Language Assessment and an innovative "Learning in the Digital World" domain.

Related Resources

The bottom line

Singapore's PISA 2022 sweep of maths, reading, and science was not a one-off — it repeats a pattern from 2015 and 2018. When PISA 2025 results were published on 8 September 2026 with science as the major domain again and 91 economies participating, Singapore placed 1st in reading and 2nd in mathematics, science, and computational problem solving — extending its streak of near-universal top rankings across cycles.

Sources

  • 1.OECD — “PISA 2022 Results (Volume I): The State of Learning and Equity in Education”, official mean-score tables for mathematics, reading, and science. oecd.org
  • 2.Wikipedia — “Programme for International Student Assessment”, PISA 2022 mathematics/reading/science ranking tables (sourced from the OECD tables above; cross-verified row-by-row during drafting). en.wikipedia.org
  • 3.OECD — official PISA participant names: Chinese Taipei, Macao (China), Hong Kong (China). oecd.org/pisa participant pages
  • 4.ILSA-Gateway — “PISA 2025 Fact Sheet”: major domain (science), 91 participating countries/economies, 2026 international report schedule. ilsa-gateway.org
  • 5.Pearson UK — “About PISA | PISA25”: confirms “December 2026 — findings for each country are published in an international report by the OECD.” pearson.com
  • 6.OECD — PISA programme overview: triennial cycle, sample size (~690,000 students representing ~29 million 15-year-olds in 2022), domain rotation. oecd.org/pisa
  • 7.Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China — “Students in B-S-J-Z (China) rank first in PISA 2018 survey”: confirms B-S-J-Z (China)'s PISA 2018 mathematics score of 591. en.moe.gov.cn
  • 8.OECD — “How much do 15-year-olds learn over one year of schooling?”: the commonly-cited benchmark that roughly 20–40 PISA score points correspond to one year of formal schooling progress. oecd.org

Every score in the country table above was cross-checked against the OECD PISA 2022 Results (Volume I) mean-score tables. We show the top 20 of 81 economies for readability; the OECD source above contains the complete list.

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Written by

SGSchoolKaki Education Team

Our team of ex-MOE teachers, private tutors and education data analysts brings 16+ years of combined experience.

Published:

Reviewed by

KW Phoon

Founder, BEng(Hons) in Computing Engineering

Data-Driven Education Platform