The United States isn't investing as much in
human capital as other developed countries, and its comparative advantage is falling behind as a result—particularly with respect to education rankings.
U.S. students' math skills have remained fairly stagnant for decades, and the country is falling behind many others that have greatly improved, such as Japan, Poland, and Ireland. Additionally, U.S. test scores are below the global average. Here's how they break down.
Key Takeaways
- The U.S. placed 16th out of 81 countries in science when testing was last administered in 2022.
- The top five math-scoring countries in 2022 were all in Asia.
- U.S. students' math scores have remained steady since 2003. Their science scores have been about the same since 2006.
- The IMD World Competitiveness Center reports that the U.S. ranked 12th in its 2024 Competitiveness Report after ranking first in 2018.
Comparing Test Scores
The Program for International Student Assessment is administered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and it tests 15-year-old students around the world.
The U.S. placed 16th out of 81 countries in science when the test was last administered in 2022. It did much worse in math, ranking 34th.
The U.S. scored 465 in math, below the OECD average of 472 and well below the scores of the top five, all of which were in Asia:
- Singapore: 575
- Macao: 552
- Chinese Taipei: 547
- Hong Kong: 540
- Japan: 536
China was not included in this ranking because only four provinces participated.1
The United States scored 499 in science, above the OECD average of 485 but still well below the top five highest scorers in science, which were:
- Singapore: 561
- Japan: 547
- Macao: 543
- Chinese Taipei: 537
- Korea: 528
It's clear when analyzing the U.S. results that the scores have been stable over time. They're not declining but there aren't any signs of improvement, either. There's been no detectable change in U.S. students' math scores since 2003 or in science scores since 2006.