The results of the PISA 2025 international student assessment show a global decline in performance in reading and mathematics. In Macedonia, 15-year-old students scored lower in mathematics compared to 2022, while achievement levels in reading and science remained roughly the same.

Data from the report indicate that the majority of students in the country face serious deficiencies in basic skills. In mathematics, only 32 percent of students reached at least a basic level of proficiency, whereas the OECD average is 65 percent. In science, approximately 36 percent of students in the country mastered basic concepts.

The results showed that, at a minimum, these students are able to recognize correct explanations for familiar scientific phenomena and use that knowledge to identify them. About 26 percent of students in Macedonia achieved Level 2 or higher in reading, while no student reached the highest levels.

The report notes that between 2022 and 2025, the gap widened between the top 10 percent of students and the bottom 10 percent across all three areas: mathematics, reading, and science. The PISA 2025 assessment in Macedonia was conducted using a representative sample of 6,977 students from 124 schools, representing approximately 90 percent of the country’s total population of 15-year-olds.