Reading at age ten, 2001 to 2021: Singapore +59 points, Netherlands −27
Over 20 years reading improved in 7 of 16 countries and worsened in 5. The last five years went down almost everywhere: from 2016 to 2021 worse in 17 of 25 countries, better in 3.
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An international reading test in grade 4 runs every five years on one scale. Shown: only countries that sat the 2021 test on schedule.
Each bar is the change in the mean from 2001 to 2021: the four largest rises and four largest falls, all beyond the measurement error.
- Singapore: reading, grade 4, 2001→2021 points
+59
IEA Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)
- Turkey: reading, grade 4, 2001→2021 points
+47
IEA Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)
- Hong Kong: reading, grade 4, 2001→2021 points
+45
IEA Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)
- Russia: reading, grade 4, 2001→2021 points
+39
IEA Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)
- France: reading, grade 4, 2001→2021 points
−11
IEA Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)
- Germany: reading, grade 4, 2001→2021 points
−15
IEA Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)
- Sweden: reading, grade 4, 2001→2021 points
−17
IEA Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)
- Netherlands: reading, grade 4, 2001→2021 points
−27
IEA Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)
IEA PIRLS 2021, trend table of means with the report's significance marks. Countries that moved the test to the start of grade 5 because of the pandemic, or tested grade 5 instead of 4, are excluded.
In 2021 many countries took the test on computer for the first time; the IEA links the scales. The fall coinciding with the pandemic does not prove the cause.
A question for this picture
How did reading change for Russian fourth-graders?