Finland's PISA 2025 Results Explained
Finland's PISA 2025 results, published in September 2026, show a country still performing above the OECD average overall, but with clear and continuing declines in mathematics and reading.
- Finland scored 504 points in science, well above the OECD average of 482, ranking 12th among 91 participating countries and economies.
- In science, only Estonia, Canada and the United Kingdom outperformed Finland, with countries including New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Switzerland at a similar level.
- Finland's mathematics ranking fell to roughly 22nd to 23rd, still slightly above the OECD average but continuing a longer decline.
- Around 7 percent of Finnish pupils reached the highest performance levels in maths, below the OECD average, while nearly one in three fell into the low-performing group.
The headline numbers
PISA, the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment, tests 15-year-olds every three years in reading, mathematics and science. The 2025 results, released in September 2026, confirm a pattern that has been building since Finland's peak PISA years in the 2000s: strong, above-average science performance alongside a steady slide in mathematics and reading.
Finland's science score of 504 still places it comfortably above the OECD average of 482, and 12th out of 91 participating countries and economies. Reading and mathematics tell a less flattering story, with mathematics falling to around 22nd or 23rd place depending on how the table is compiled.
Why the maths and reading decline matters
The concerning figure is not the ranking itself but the spread underneath it: close to a third of Finnish 15-year-olds are now classed as low performers in mathematics, and only about 7 percent reach the top bands, below the OECD average for high achievers. That combination points to a widening gap between Finland's strongest and weakest students rather than a uniform decline.
This is not unique to Finland. Reading and maths scores have fallen across most OECD countries since the mid-2010s, a trend widely linked to increased screen time, pandemic disruption, and changing reading habits among teenagers. Finland's own internal critics have pointed to the same pressures for several years.
How this fits with Finland's education reforms
Finland's response has included the mobile phone ban in schools and the broader 2025 basic education reforms, both aimed squarely at the reading and maths slide rather than science, where performance has held up better.
It is worth reading PISA 2025 alongside Finland's other international assessments rather than in isolation, since a single sitting can move for many reasons. See how PISA compares with TIMSS and PIRLS for that wider picture.
What this means for schools outside Finland
Schools and parents who look to Finland for pedagogy should treat PISA 2025 as a prompt to ask which parts of the model are declining and which are holding steady, rather than as a reason to abandon or blindly copy the approach. Science performance, built on hands-on, inquiry-based teaching, remains a genuine strength worth studying; the reading and maths trend is a live problem Finland itself is still working through.
Frequently asked questions
Did Finland's PISA ranking fall in 2025?
It depends on the subject. Finland stayed strong in science, 12th out of 91 with a score well above the OECD average, but fell further in mathematics, to roughly 22nd or 23rd, continuing a longer-running decline.
Is Finland still the best education system in the world?
Not by PISA rankings alone, and it has not topped every subject for some years. See is Finnish education really the best for the fuller picture beyond test scores.
Why is Finland's maths score falling?
The exact causes are debated, but factors commonly cited include increased screen time, changing reading habits, and pandemic-era disruption, trends seen across most OECD countries, not only Finland.
How has Finland responded to the decline?
Through measures including a national mobile phone ban in schools and the 2025 basic education reforms, both targeted at reading, maths and classroom focus.
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