The US has the lowest primary and secondary enrollment numbers; science and reading attainment in the US has improved but math scores remain below the advanced democracies.

SOURCES

Gross Enrollment (columns 1 – 3): 2018 Human Development Statistical Update

Primary enrollment
Percent of primary school-age population (2012 – 2017)
Secondary enrollment 
Percent of secondary school-age population (2012 – 2017)
Percent of GDP Spent
Government Expenditure on Education (2012 – 2017). Current, capital and transfer spending on education, expressed as a percentage of GDP.
*a recent value for Canada was not found so previous 2009 – 2011 value used

Attainment (columns 4 – 6): OECD, Program for International Student Assessment

Science
Mean scores for 15 year olds on the Science scale of the PISA 2018.
Reading
Mean scores for 15 year olds on the Reading scale of the PISA 2018.
Math
Mean scores for 15 year olds on the Math scale of the PISA 2018.

Page updated 1/31/2023.

Notes

“What America Can Learn From Smart Schools in Other Countries”

Amanda Ripley
December 6, 2016.
New York Times. Statistical models for PISA performance can predict up to 85 percent of the variation in results. Factors such as prioritization of low-achieving students, enrollment age, standards for entering teaching, and socioeconomic status (explained 17 percent of U.S. variation in 2006 and 11 percent of U.S. variation in 2011) contribute to performance predictions.