A major international test has ranked New Zealand teens ninth in the world for reading, 10th-equal for science, and 14th-equal in maths.

The results show almost a quarter of students are “low performers” in mathematics while that figure rises to 29 per cent in reading.

More than half of 15-year-olds did not achieve the national proficiency standard in maths, according to new PISA results, which show China and Singapore in the lead.