Revealed: Timss 2019 top countries in science and maths

Latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study of 64 countries shows East Asia dominating top rankings
8th December 2020, 9:01am

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Revealed: Timss 2019 top countries in science and maths

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archived/revealed-timss-2019-top-countries-science-and-maths
Timss: Rankings

Singapore has completed a second consecutive clean sweep in the latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss) rankings published today.

East Asia continues its general domination of the top places in the four-yearly study, which assesses the maths and science achievement of 10- and 14-year-olds around the world.


Timss 2019: Top 10 England improves at primary maths

Timss 2019: ‘Rankings are the least helpful part’

Timss 2015: At-a-glance tables 

Timss 2019: ‘Significant’ decline in science results


For Timss 2019, run by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, 600,000 pupils in 64 countries were assessed.

But Singapore topped all the charts in both subjects and at both age groups for the second time running. East Asia also took the other top five places in maths for both age groups thanks to strong scores from Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong.

The picture varies slightly in science, with Hong Kong performing less well and falling out of the top 15 for its 14-year-olds’ results.

Russia scored just after the East Asian nations in maths and snatched the third and fifth positions in science.

England is still in the top 15 countries for both subjects and age group - and in the top 10 for 10-year-olds’ maths performance. 

Indeed, 10-year-olds gained 10 points in maths in 2019 compared with 2015, helping England gain two positions in the rankings. The older age group, 14-year-olds, lost three points and a position, taking England to number 12.

For science, the younger students gained one point and England climbed four positions to rank number 11. But 14-year-olds did not perform as well. The age group lost 20 points on 2015, and England slipped down six positions to number 14. 

The tables below list the top 15 countries for each subject and for each age group.

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