Cambodia records higher PISA 2025 scores in science, maths and reading

Science reached 382 points as all three subjects improved

The OECD released Cambodia’s PISA 2025 country note on 8 September 2026. Cambodian students averaged 382 points in science, 366 in mathematics and 347 in reading. Compared with 2022, those scores were up by 35 points in science, 29 in mathematics and 18 in reading. The longer trend is also positive. The OECD reports higher mean scores than in 2017, when Cambodia first participated through PISA for Development. Since then, the share of students performing below Level 2 has fallen by 27 percentage points in science, eight points in mathematics and six points in reading.

Progress should not be confused with parity. Cambodia remained below OECD averages in all three subjects in 2025: 482 points in science, 463 in mathematics and 461 in reading. The results therefore show a meaningful improvement from Cambodia’s own earlier performance, while leaving a substantial gap in absolute achievement levels.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Education highlighted the gains using a different comparison point. In comments reported by the state news agency AKP, Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said scores had risen by 52 points in science, 41 in mathematics and 26 in reading compared with results described as 2018 figures. For cross-cycle comparisons, the OECD’s published trend series provide the clearer common baseline.

For practical context, see Cambodia market and country comparisons. This development also connects with New science library opens at Battambang’s Anlong Vil school.

The Cambodian sample represented about 43% of all 15-year-olds

A total of 5,464 students in 186 Cambodian schools completed PISA 2025. The OECD estimates that they represented roughly 136,800 15-year-olds, or about 43% of the country’s total population at that age.

That coverage matters when interpreting the headline scores. PISA assesses students within a defined age band who have completed at least six years of formal schooling, so the results are not a census of every 15-year-old in Cambodia.

The OECD also points to a notable change in access to education. Between 2022 and 2025, the number of Cambodian 15-year-olds eligible to take PISA increased even though the country’s total population at that age declined. The organisation says this suggests a significant expansion in secondary-school enrolment. Rising scores alongside broader participation are encouraging, but the coverage figure still needs to be kept in view when families use the data.

Families still need school-level evidence before making a choice

For parents considering a move to Cambodia, PISA offers a useful system-wide reference point. It can show whether learning outcomes are moving in a better or worse direction over time, and the 2025 release gives Cambodia a clearer positive trend than previous cycles.

It does not rank the private or international school a family may actually be considering. Curriculum, teaching language, class size, teacher retention, student support, examination pathways and daily travel can matter far more to an individual child. International schools may also follow programmes that are only loosely connected to the national picture captured by PISA.

The practical reading of the 2025 results is therefore balanced: Cambodia’s school system has improved on the measures tested, but families should treat those figures as context rather than a substitute for evaluating a specific school.