PISA 2025 shows declining reading scores across much of Europe, with Latvia among hardest hit

Reading scores among 15-year-olds declined across much of Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe in the 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), with Latvia, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, and Czechia recording substantial decreases compared with 2022. Estonia remained the strongest performer among the countries examined, while Ukraine’s results showed no statistically significant change despite continued disruption caused by Russia’s full-scale war.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), PISA 2025 recorded the lowest OECD-average reading performance to date. Between 2015 and 2025, the average fell by 28 points — equivalent to about a year and a half of learning. Reading scores declined significantly between 2018 and 2025 in 56 of the 74 countries and economies with comparable data.

The OECD’s country-by-country results show considerable differences across the region. Estonia scored 499 points, followed by Poland with 482, Czechia with 468, Lithuania with 464, Croatia with 453, Hungary with 452, Slovakia with 448, and Slovenia with 445. Latvia recorded 430 points, Greece 423, Ukraine’s participating regions 418, Romania 413, and Bulgaria 387. The OECD reading average was 461 points.

Among the countries examined, Latvia recorded the largest decline compared with 2022, with its reading score falling by 45 points to 430. The OECD noted that the results coincided with significant changes in the country’s education system. Between 2023 and 2025, Latvia completed its transition to Latvian as the sole language of instruction in compulsory education, and PISA testing is now conducted entirely in Latvian. In 2022, about 28% of Latvian participants had taken the assessment in Russian. These changes are important when interpreting the results, although they do not establish a single cause for the decline.

Slovenia recorded its lowest reading score since joining PISA in 2006. Its students scored 445 points, down 24 points from 2022 and 50 points from 2018. According to the Slovenian government, 64% of students reached at least Level 2, the baseline reading proficiency level, 10 percentage points fewer than in 2022. Only 3% reached Levels 5 or 6, while girls outperformed boys by 51 points.

Following the results, Slovenian Education, Science and Youth Minister Borut Rončević announced plans for a comprehensive education reform. Proposed measures include changes to curricula, assessment, and national examinations, earlier literacy instruction, and additional support for students who fall behind. The government aims for children to acquire basic literacy skills during their first year of school and strengthen reading comprehension, writing, and spelling in subsequent years.

The downward trend was less pronounced in some countries. Estonia remained one of Europe’s strongest performers, ranking second behind Ireland despite a 12-point decline compared with 2022. Poland’s score fell by seven points, while Slovakia remained broadly stable, rising by one point. Both Estonia and Poland continued to perform above the OECD average.

Other countries also recorded substantial declines compared with 2022. Croatia’s reading score fell by 22 points, Hungary’s by 21, and by 20. Despite these similar declines, Czechia remained above the OECD average, while Croatia and Hungary scored slightly below it.

Ukraine’s results require additional context because of Russia’s full-scale war. According to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, 8,962 students from 17 regions participated in PISA 2025. Ukrainian students scored 418 points in reading, 43 points below the OECD average. Reading was the lowest-scoring of the three core subjects assessed, and 45% of participating students did not reach Level 2.

The ministry reported no statistically significant change in Ukraine’s overall performance compared with 2022, despite continued disruption to education. The 2025 findings can be compared directly with 2022 data adjusted to the same geographical coverage, while comparisons with 2018 require caution.

The PISA findings also follow separate evidence of weakening engagement with books in parts of the region, although reading habits and reading literacy measure different things.

In Ukraine, recent survey findings pointed to a different trend in adult reading habits. As reported earlier, 80% of respondents said they had read at least one book during the previous year, compared with 65% in 2022. The survey covered urban residents aged 18–55 and measured reading habits rather than reading proficiency, so its findings are not directly comparable with PISA.

PISA 2025 assessed more than 760,000 students aged 15 across 91 countries and economies, making it the largest assessment to date. The OECD also found that instances of “hasty reading,” in which students read quickly but inaccurately, nearly doubled between 2018 and 2025, pointing to broader difficulties with careful engagement with texts.

The PISA findings also follow separate evidence of weakening engagement with books in parts of the region, although reading habits and reading literacy measure different things. As reported earlier, Slovenia’s 2026 Development Report found that people were reading fewer books than in 2019 and reading less frequently, with the decline also visible among young people. In Slovakia, a separate 2026 study found that 43% of the population were classified as non-readers, up from 36% in 2024.

Main image: IES Antonio Hellin Costa