Bulgaria has recorded its weakest reading performance since it began participating in the PISA assessment, with 58% of 15-year-olds failing to reach the basic proficiency level, according to the 2025 results.
Bulgarian students scored an average of 387 points in reading, down 18 points from 2022 and 44 points compared with 2015. Mathematics also declined, with Bulgarian ninth-graders scoring 405 points, 12 points lower than three years earlier and 38 points below the 2015 result.
Science was the only area in which Bulgaria’s score did not change compared with the previous assessment. Students scored 421 points, the same as in 2022. Despite that stability, Bulgaria remains well below the average results for OECD countries in all three areas.
The decline in reading and mathematics has reached the lowest levels recorded since Bulgaria joined the international study. Over the past decade, the deterioration in both subjects is equivalent to roughly two school years.
The reading results are particularly concerning. Some 58% of Bulgarian 15-year-olds performed below the basic proficiency level, compared with 53% in 2022 and 41% in 2015. In other words, the share of students struggling with basic reading skills has increased by 17 percentage points in a decade.
