PISA 2025 results in the Nordic countries show another decline in the skills of 15-year-olds, particularly in reading and mathematics. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden all recorded lower scores in both subjects than in 2022, while several of the education systems once associated with some of the strongest outcomes in Europe are now at or close to historic lows. The latest assessment by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also suggests that the deterioration cannot be explained by the pandemic alone.
The OECD’s PISA 2025 report assessed more than 760,000 students across 91 countries and economies. Across OECD members, the average score fell to 461 points in reading, 463 in mathematics and 482 in science, the lowest average results recorded by PISA in all three subjects.
The Nordic results follow the same direction, although with significant differences between countries. Finland remains the strongest Nordic performer in science, while Norway and Iceland have fallen below the OECD average across all three main subjects.
PISA 2025 shows reading and mathematics falling across the Nordics
The most consistent Nordic trend is in reading. Between 2022 and 2025, average scores fell by 29 points in Denmark, 24 in Norway, 21 in Sweden, 16 in Finland and 14 in Iceland. The OECD average declined by 14 points over the same period.
Mathematics also deteriorated everywhere in the region. Denmark lost 19 points, Sweden 18, Norway 17, Finland 15 and Iceland nine.
The changes are part of a longer decline. The OECD notes that reading performance had already begun falling before the Covid-19 pandemic and argues that school closures alone cannot explain the trend. Its analysis points instead to several possible longer-term factors, including changes in reading habits, digital distraction, absenteeism and declining engagement with learning.
The OECD estimates that around 20 PISA points correspond, on average, to one year of learning. The Danish Ministry of Education (Undervisningsministeriet), for example, says Denmark’s decline since 2015 amounts to almost two years of learning in reading and mathematics. Danish students scored 460 points in reading, 471 in mathematics and 478 in science in 2025, the country’s lowest results since it began participating in PISA in 2000. The ministry described the decline as affecting students across the performance distribution.
Finland remains the strongest Nordic country in science
Finland continues to stand apart from its Nordic neighbours in some areas, despite its long-term deterioration. Finnish students scored 504 points in science, 474 in reading and 469 in mathematics, remaining above the OECD average in all three subjects.
Science remains Finland’s strongest area. It recorded the highest science score in the Nordic region and remained among the stronger OECD education systems. Yet Finland’s advantage over the OECD average has narrowed considerably over the past decade.
Yle reported that differences between Finnish schools remain comparatively small, but disparities between students within the same schools have widened. Reading has become a particular concern, with Finland falling to joint 17th place in the latest assessment.
The pattern also illustrates a wider finding in PISA 2025: socio-economic gaps have narrowed in many countries not because disadvantaged pupils improved, but because performance among more advantaged students declined.
Norway falls below the OECD average in all three subjects
Norway recorded one of the clearest long-term reversals. Students scored 470 points in science, 453 in reading and 452 in mathematics, leaving the country below the OECD average in all three areas.
According to the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training (Utdanningsdirektoratet), Norway had generally performed at or above the OECD average since 2009. Reading has fallen by 60 points since 2015, while mathematics has declined by 50 points.
The proportion of Norwegian pupils below Level 2, which PISA treats as the baseline level needed for further education, employment and everyday life, has also increased sharply. In reading, the share rose from 15% in 2015 to 34% in 2025. Among boys, the figure is approximately 41%, reflecting a persistent gender gap in literacy.
Norway’s 2025 figures nevertheless require some caution. The OECD marked the country’s results with an asterisk because 10.4% of the target student population was excluded from the assessment, above PISA’s technical standard. The OECD warns that this may produce an upward bias in Norway’s scores.
Sweden and Iceland also move backwards
Sweden recorded 485 points in science, 466 in reading and 464 in mathematics. Science remained slightly above the OECD average, but reading and mathematics fell substantially compared with 2022.
The gender divide is particularly visible in Swedish reading results. Girls averaged 487 points compared with 447 for boys, a gap of 41 points. Socio-economic differences are also more pronounced in Sweden than in several neighbouring Nordic systems: socio-economic status explained 12% of the variation in science performance, close to the OECD average.
Iceland performed considerably lower, at 441 points in science, 422 in reading and 450 in mathematics. RÚV described the 2025 results as Iceland’s worst ever in PISA. Only 56% of Icelandic students reached baseline proficiency in reading, according to the national results, while 62% did so in mathematics and science.
Iceland nevertheless remains comparatively equitable by international standards. As in Denmark, Finland and Norway, socio-economic background explains a smaller share of differences in performance than across the OECD as a whole.
The Faroe Islands face a particularly sharp reading problem
The Faroe Islands show a more mixed picture. Faroese students improved slightly in mathematics and science compared with 2022, but their reading results deteriorated significantly.
Students scored 428 points in reading, 19 points fewer than in 2022 and 42 fewer than in 2015. According to Kringvarp Føroya, 42% of Faroese students are now below the level considered functionally proficient in reading, up by around ten percentage points from the previous PISA cycle.
The Faroese results therefore do not show the same across-the-board decline recorded in the five Nordic countries, but reinforce the regional concern around literacy.
The decline started before the pandemic
The common direction of the Nordic results makes it increasingly difficult to attribute weaker educational outcomes primarily to Covid-era school disruption.
The OECD finds that reading performance has been falling across many education systems since well before 2020. Sweden, for example, kept schools largely open during the first pandemic phase but still recorded a substantial subsequent decline. The report instead identifies several overlapping developments, including less reading for enjoyment, more fragmented digital reading, absenteeism and weaker student engagement.
Digital technology is not associated with poorer outcomes in every context. PISA finds that moderate use of devices for learning can correlate with stronger performance. But leisure use and digital distraction during lessons are associated with weaker results. In Denmark, 36% of students said they were distracted by digital devices or media in most or every science lesson.
The results also show why the Nordic education debate is changing. The region continues to combine relatively limited socio-economic disparities with comparatively strong institutions, but equity alone has not prevented an overall fall in skills. PISA 2025 suggests that the central challenge is increasingly not only who is being left behind, but whether performance is declining across the student population as a whole.
