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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Polish schoolchildren are the second best in the European Union at mathematics, the third best at reading comprehension, and the fifth best at science, according to the latest results from a major international study of pupils’ abilities.
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is carried out every three years by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and measures the performance of 15-year-olds.
The latest instalment, based on tests taken in 2025, was published on Tuesday this week. It includes results from 91 countries and territories across the world. A total of 760,000 pupils were assessed, including 7,103 in 217 Polish schools.
The top-performing countries in maths in the 2025 PISA study, along with the average score among OECD countries
In maths, Polish pupils obtained a mean score of 484, which was the 12th highest in the world. The top seven places were taken by Asian countries and territories. But the only other European Union country to exceed Poland’s score was Estonia (508).
Poland was just behind the United Kingdom (488) and Canada (485), but ahead of the likes of Finland (469), Germany (464) and the United States (463).
In reading comprehension, Poland’s mean score of 482 was 14th in the world and third best in the EU, behind Ireland (500) and Estonia (499). Polish pupils performed slightly worse, in relative terms, in science, where their mean score of 495 was 18th in the world and fifth best in the EU.
A number of Polish media outlets and Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrongly reported that Poland was third best in the EU for science. In fact, it was significantly behind Estonia (527) and Finland (504) and marginally below Ireland (500) and Austria (497).
The top-performing countries in reading in the 2025 PISA study, along with the average score among OECD countries
Poland’s latest results continue its recent history of performing strongly in PISA. In the 2018 instalment, Polish pupils were the third best in the EU in both maths and science, and fourth best in reading.
In 2022 (when PISA took place a year later than planned due to the Covid pandemic), Poland was fourth in the EU in maths and fifth in both science and reading.
In 2021, a separate assessment of reading comprehension among fourth-grade pupils – called PIRLS and carried out every five years by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement – found Poland had the joint best result among EU countries, equal with Finland
Following the announcement of the new PISA data, Polish education minister Barbara Nowacka welcomed the fact that “Poland has maintained its high ranking among European Union countries”.
However, she added a note of caution, pointing to the fact that, overall, test scores have been declining, both in Poland and globally. That shows “Polish education still has a lot of work ahead of it”.
Nowacka said that her ministry’s efforts to reform the school curriculum had been based on results and recommendations from previous PISA reports.
While Poland’s scores have remained consistently above the OECD average, performance has been declining in both Poland and other countries over the years (source: OECD).
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
