Korean 15-year-olds' reading ability drops considerably over past 3 years: report

Korean 15-year-olds’ reading ability dropped significantly over the last three years, an OECD report showed Tuesday, with officials partly linking the decline to heavier use of digital and social media. The average reading score fell to 501 from 515 in 2022. Korea’s reading rank range slipped to third to 13th from second to 12th. The report also showed small, statistically negligible declines in mathematics and science.

The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment 2025 covered about 760,000 students in 91 countries, including 38 OECD member states.

In Korea, the assessment was conducted on 6,859 students at 196 schools.

The report said Korea's average reading score was 501, down 14 points from the 2022 assessment.

Korea's reading rank range changed from second to 12th in 2022 to third to 13th in 2025.

Korean students' average scores in mathematics and science fell from 527 to 522 and from 528 to 526, respectively, with the report describing both declines as statistically negligible.

Published Sep 8, 2026 6:12 pm KST

A student browses books at a large bookstore in Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap

Korean 15-year-olds' reading ability dropped significantly over the last three years, an OECD report showed Tuesday, likely partly due to the increased use of digital and social media.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Programme for International Student Assessment 2025, the cohort's average reading score was 501, down 14 points from the previous assessment in 2022.

The latest assessment was conducted over three years involving approximately 760,000 students in 91 countries, including 38 OECD member states.

It aims to assess and compare 15-year-olds' skills in reading, mathematics and science across countries, and has been carried out every three years, though the next editions will be released every four years.

In Korea, the latest assessment was conducted on 6,859 students at 196 schools.

The reading score ranked the country third to 13th, compared with second to 12th in 2022. The report assigns ranking ranges to each country instead of a single rank in consideration of the margin of error.

"It is difficult to identify a single cause for lower reading scores across the world," an education ministry official said, referring to findings that Singapore, the top-ranked country in both 2022 and 2025, also saw a decline from 543 to 535 in the same period.

Japan, meanwhile, retreated from 516 points in 2022 to 503 in 2025.

"It appears that a combination of things, such as (students') motivation and attitude toward reading, were affected by the increased use of digital and social media," the official said.

Korean students' average scores in mathematics and science also fell over the three-year period, but the decline was statistically negligible — from 527 to 522 in mathematics and from 528 to 526 in science — the report showed.

经合组织周二发布的一份报告显示，韩国15岁青少年的阅读能力在过去三年中显著下降，官员们将部分原因归咎于数字媒体和社交媒体的过度使用。平均阅读分数从2022年的515分降至501分。韩国的阅读排名也从第二至第十二位下滑至第三至第十三位。报告还显示，数学和科学成绩也出现了小幅下降，但统计学意义不大。

经合组织2025年国际学生评估计划涵盖了91个国家的约76万名学生，其中包括38个经合组织成员国。

在韩国，这项评估对 196 所学校的 6,859 名学生进行了调查。

报告称，韩国的平均阅读成绩为 501 分，比 2022 年的评估结果下降了 14 分。

韩国的阅读排名范围从 2022 年的第二至第十二位变为 2025 年的第三至第十三位。

韩国学生的数学和科学平均成绩分别从 527 分下降到 522 分，从 528 分下降到 526 分，报告称这两个下降幅度在统计学上都微不足道。

发布于2026年9月8日 下午6:12（韩国标准时间）

周日，一名学生在首尔一家大型书店浏览书籍。（韩联社）

经合组织周二发布的一份报告显示，韩国15岁青少年的阅读能力在过去三年中显著下降，这可能部分是由于数字和社交媒体的使用增加所致。

根据经济合作与发展组织 (OECD) 2025 年国际学生评估计划 (PISA) 的结果，该届学生的平均阅读成绩为 501 分，比 2022 年的上次评估下降了 14 分。

最新评估历时三年，涉及 91 个国家的约 76 万名学生，其中包括 38 个经合组织成员国。

该调查旨在评估和比较各国 15 岁青少年在阅读、数学和科学方面的技能，每三年进行一次，但下一版将每四年发布一次。

在韩国，最新一次评估是在 196 所学校的 6,859 名学生中进行的。

阅读成绩排名中，该国位列第三至第十三名，而2022年则位列第二至第十二名。考虑到误差范围，该报告为每个国家分配了排名范围，而不是单一排名。

“很难确定世界各地阅读成绩下降的单一原因，”一位教育部官员表示，他指的是新加坡在 2022 年和 2025 年均排名第一，但在同一时期，该国的阅读成绩也从 543 分下降到 535 分。

与此同时，日本的排名从 2022 年的 516 分下降到 2025 年的 503 分。

“看来，数字媒体和社交媒体的日益普及影响了学生的阅读动机和态度等多种因素，”这位官员说。

报告显示，韩国学生的数学和科学平均成绩在三年期间也有所下降，但下降幅度在统计学上微不足道——数学成绩从 527 分降至 522 分，科学成绩从 528 分降至 526 分。