German students achieve the worst results in the history of the 2025 Pisa assessment

German students achieved their worst results ever in the 2025 Pisa international assessment of educational performance, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development announced today, Tuesday (September 8, 2026). Last year's results in reading, mathematics and science showed Germany recording its lowest scores ever since the first Pisa study was conducted in 2000. Average performance at the international level also declined, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The OECD's Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) measures 15-year-old students' skills in reading, mathematics and science. The program has been conducted once every three years since 2000. The first Pisa results were seen as a wake-up call for Germany, placing Europe's largest economy below the OECD average.

At the time, the poor results sparked intense debate and educational reforms dubbed the "Pisa Shock." According to the 2025 results, German students performed particularly poorly in reading. They obtained 465 points, compared to 480 points in the previous study published in 2022.

German students obtained 464 points in mathematics, down from 475 points three years ago, and 486 points in science, down from 492 points.

Historically low levels

Samuel Greif, who led the study at the Technical University of Munich, said the latest results show “historically low levels of efficiency.” Graeve pointed to declining performance across the OECD.

Countries such as the Netherlands and France were at an almost similar level to Germany. In 14 OECD countries, including Estonia, Canada, Switzerland and Austria, students performed significantly better than in Germany.

“We're not significantly behind, but we're not living up to our own standards as an education nation,” Graeve said. “And we're not among the top performers.”

The results showed a close relationship between social background and educational opportunities. In this context, Graefe explained, “The link between economic and social status and educational success is about three times stronger in Germany than in Canada.”

Social and psychological disparities

Increased student diversity and psychosocial issues also influenced the results. In this context, Greif says: “The dividing line is not between young people with an immigrant background and those who do not belong to this background, but rather between young people from socially well-off families and young people from socially deprived families,” adding that “the pivotal question here is the extent to which the education system is prepared to deal with differences... Many countries are able to transform different backgrounds into a source of strength for diversity.”

Graefe explained that this does not always happen in Germany, pointing to early childhood education, teacher shortages and digitalization as problem areas.

760,000 young people in 91 countries around the world underwent comparison tests, including countries that are not members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Edited by: Hassan Zenand