Brussels – It is a fact: the basic skills of 15-year-olds in the European Union are declining and continue to do so. The European Commission published today (5 October) an EU analysis on the results of the 2025 international PISA survey, organised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The study assesses pupils’ skills in three key areas: reading, mathematics, and science. The data show that 33.9 per cent of pupils are below the minimum proficiency level in mathematics, 31.3 per cent in reading, and 25.9 per cent in science. For the Commission, these figures “confirm a steady decline in basic skills among 15-year-olds across the EU.” This means that the EU is moving further away from the target of 15 per cent of pupils with unsatisfactory results set for 2030, under the Strategic framework for European cooperation in the field of education and training (2021–2030) – an EU instrument designed to guide and improve Member States’ education systems.
Even academic excellence is on the decline. In 2025, the proportion of pupils achieving above-average results stood at 4.8 per cent in reading, 6.4 per cent in science and 6.8 per cent in mathematics. These figures fall short of the EU’s 2030 target of 12 per cent in each subject. No EU country meets the target in reading or science, and only two do so in maths (Estonia and the Netherlands).
The analysis also highlights clear disparities in terms of equity: pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are around four times more likely to achieve poor results in science than their “advantaged” peers. The latter, by contrast, are around eight times more likely to achieve excellent results. In Italy, the proportion of pupils achieving a basic level of proficiency is slightly above the OECD average in the three subject areas. In particular, Italy’s performance in science stood at 78 per cent (compared with the OECD average of 74), in mathematics at 69 per cent (compared with the OECD average of 65) and in reading at 76 per cent (compared with an OECD average of 69).
Today’s figures were published to mark World Teachers’ Day (5 October) and on the eve of the publication – scheduled for this year – of the Berlaymont Palace education package, through which the Commission intends to propose measures to help Member States reverse this trend and prepare education for the challenges of the future in the age of artificial intelligence. “Every young person should leave school with the skills and confidence needed to build their own future,” commented the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President for Social Rights, Skills, Quality Jobs and Education, Roxana Mînzatu.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
