Index Ranking | Index | Pearson | The Learning Curve

Index - Which countries have the best schools?

Have
you ever wondered which country has the best schools in the world?

In the globally connected world, and with the indubitable link between education and economic prosperity,
how a countrys schools perform relative to other nations matters. Measuring school performance is tricky,
and
we should
never rely on any single set of metrics. Learning is more nuanced than that.
Home
| Index
Our Index, which uses global data sets such as PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS together with individual country data
such as literacy and graduation rates, is one interpretation of where school systems are working well, are
where they need to improve. As well as an overall rank, the Index provides separate standings for cognitive
skills and educational attainment.
The Index was first published in November 2012, and updated in January 2014.
How to use?
2014
2014 heat map
2014 vs 2012

This is a cut-down view of the index ranking chart, to view all columns please use a screen of 980 pixels or
wider (ipad landscape or desktop screens).

Country A to Z

Overall

Cognitive Skills

Educational Attainment

South Korea

Rank 1

1.30

Rank 2

1.35

Rank 1

1.19

United Kingdom

Rank 6

0.67

Rank 8

0.52

Rank 2

0.96

Poland

Rank 10

Rank 3

0.85

Finland

Rank 5

Rank 4

0.79

Denmark

Rank 11

Rank 5

0.75

Japan

Rank 2

1.03

Rank 4

1.20

Rank 6

0.70

Netherlands

Rank 8

0.58

Rank 7

0.57

Rank 7

0.58

New Zealand

Rank 16

0.35

Rank 21

0.23

Rank 8

0.57*

Norway

Rank 21

0.21

Rank 27

0.02

Rank 9

0.57

Ireland

Rank 9

Rank 10

0.49

Rank 10

0.55

Slovakia

Rank 27

0.09

Rank 29

-0.14

Rank 11

0.54

Switzerland

Rank 20

0.25

Rank 23

0.20

Rank 12

0.35

0.50
0.92
0.46

0.51

Rank 16
Rank 5
Rank 17

0.33
0.99
0.32

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Australia

Rank 15

0.38

Rank 13

0.43

Rank 13

0.29

Germany

Rank 12

0.41

Rank 12

0.48

Rank 14

0.28

Canada

Rank 7

Rank 15

0.25

Czech Republic

Rank 19

0.27

Rank 20

0.28

Rank 16

0.25

Sweden

Rank 24

0.17

Rank 25

0.15

Rank 17

0.22

Belgium

Rank 18

0.28

Rank 15

0.33

Rank 18

0.20*

Hong Kong-China

Rank 4

Rank 18

0.20*

United States

Rank 14

0.39

Rank 11

Rank 20

0.19

Russia

Rank 13

0.40

Rank 9

Rank 21

0.19*

Israel

Rank 17

0.30

Rank 14

0.35

Rank 22

0.18*

Bulgaria

Rank 30

-0.26

Rank 30

-0.39

Rank 23

0.01*

Hungary

Rank 22

0.17

Rank 19

0.28

Rank 24

-0.04

Spain

Rank 29

-0.08

Rank 28

-0.09

Rank 25

-0.06

France

Rank 23

0.17

Rank 18

0.29

Rank 26

-0.07*

Italy

Rank 25

0.11

Rank 24

0.20

Rank 27

-0.08

Romania

Rank 31

-0.44

Rank 31

-0.62

Rank 28

-0.08*

Austria

Rank 26

0.10

Rank 22

0.22

Rank 29

-0.13

Portugal

Rank 28

0.04

Rank 26

0.13

Rank 30

-0.14

Argentina

Rank 37

-1.49

Rank 40

-2.14

Rank 31

-0.20*

0.60

0.96

Rank 6

Rank 3

0.77

1.34
0.49
0.50

Z-score
(number of standard deviations above or below the mean)

Less than -1.0

Between -1.0 and -0.5

Between 0.5 and 1.0

Between -0.5 and 0.5

More than 1.0

How is the Index calculated?

The overall index score is the weighted sum of the underlying two category scores. Likewise, the category
scores are the weighted sum of the underlying indicator scores (see below for the default weights applied).
Each indicator score is calculated on the basis of a z-score normalisation process. This process enables the
comparison and aggregation of different data sets (on different scales), and the scoring of countries on the
basis of their comparative performance.
What is a z-score?

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A z-score indicates how many standard deviations an observation is above or below the mean. To compute
the z-score, the EIU first calculated each indicators mean and standard deviation using the data for the
countries in the Index, and then the distance of the observation from the mean in terms of standard
deviations.
How are the categories and indicators weighted?
The overall index score is the weighted sum of the underlying two category scores. Likewise, the category
scores are the weighted sum of the underlying indicator scores. The default weighting for the Index is twothirds to cognitive skills and one-third to educational attainment. Within the cognitive skills category, the
Grade 8 tests score accounts for 60% while the Grade 4 tests score accounts for 40% (Reading, Maths and
Science all account for equal weights). Within the educational attainment category, the literacy rate and
graduation rates account for equal weights.
When making comparisons of individual countries across Index versions it is important to focus on the
ranking rather than the score. This is because the mean and standard deviation for each indicator are specific
to each version of the Index and the sample of countries.
The data within the 2014 Index was collected and/or calculated in September 2014, while the data within the
2012 Index was collected and/or calculated in September 2012. For the full methodology for the 2014 Index
please refer to the Appendix 2 in the latest report; for more details on the Learning Curves quantitative
component, please refer to Appendix 1 in The Learning Curve 2012 Report.
Note: *Because of the variation in how countries measure graduation rates, the EIU followed the Advisory
Panel's suggestion in using OECD graduation rate data, which uses one main definition. When OECD data was
not available, national ministry or statistics bureau data was sanity-checked and then used if deemed
comparable. In some cases, no data on upper secondary and/or tertiary graduation rates was available. In
this case, the country was awarded the mean score for this indicator. One disadvantage of giving a country
the mean score is that if in reality it performs worse than the average in this indicator, the Index boosts its
score, and vice versa. Nevertheless, this was deemed the most transparent and fair method available. This
also applies to one country for the literacy rate, where no internationally comparable data was found to be
available.

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