Uruguay
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Uruguay
Student performance (PISA 2025)
  • In 2025, the average score of 15-year-old students in science in Uruguay was 445 PISA score points (OECD average: 482 PISA score points), and the score difference between boys and girls was 2 PISA score points, a difference that was not statistically significant (OECD average: -1 PISA score points).
  • Low performers in science accounted for 35.8% of students in Uruguay (OECD average: 25.7%), while 1.5% were top performers, scoring at Level 5 or 6 (OECD average: 7.2%). The performance difference between students at the 90th and 10th percentiles was 230 PISA score points (OECD average: 258 PISA score points).
  • Between 2022 and 2025, science performance in Uruguay changed by 9 PISA score points (OECD average: -3 PISA score points). Over its longer period of participation in PISA, the average decennial rate of change in science performance was 11 PISA score points (OECD average: -7 PISA score points).
  • In mathematics, 15-year-old students in Uruguay scored 405 PISA score points on average (OECD average: 463 PISA score points). The score difference between boys and girls was 13 PISA score points (OECD average: 13 PISA score points), while mathematics performance changed by -4 PISA score points between 2022 and 2025, a change that was not statistically significant, (OECD average: -9 PISA score points).
  • Reading performance averaged 423 PISA score points score points in Uruguay (OECD average: 461 PISA score points). The difference between boys and girls was -25 PISA score points (OECD average: -30 PISA score points), and reading performance changed by -7 PISA score points between 2022 and 2025 (OECD average: -14 PISA score points).
  • Students in Uruguay scored 462 PISA score points on average in computational problem solving (OECD average: 500 PISA score points), while 50.6% performed better than expected based on their science performance (OECD average: 56.3%).
  • Some 72.2% of students in Uruguay reported that they like learning new things in school (OECD average: 68.8%), and 70.7% reported that they like to know how things work (OECD average: 74%). Regarding student perserverance, 66.2% reported that they finish what they start (OECD average: 61.2%), and 68.5% that they put in additional effort when work becomes challenging (OECD average: 59.5%).
  • Students in Uruguay reported their engagement as well as their learning dispositions across indices such as: 0 for curiosity (OECD average: 0 ), 0.17 for perseverance (OECD average: 0 ), -0.05 for goal setting (OECD average: 0 ), 0.12 for help seeking (OECD average: 0 ) and -0.04 for cognitive adaptability (OECD average: 0.01 ).
  • Some 87.7% of students in Uruguay reported feeling that they belong at school (OECD average: 76.2%), while 80.1% reported that they make friends easily (OECD average: 80%) and 95.4% that they believe their peers like them (OECD average: 83.1%).
  • Socio-economic status accounted for 14.9% of the variation in science performance in Uruguay (OECD average: 11.6%). The science-performance gap separating students in the top quarter of the socio-economic distribution from those in the bottom quarter was 87 PISA score points (OECD average: 84 PISA score points).
  • Moderate use of digital devices for learning at school is associated with different levels of science performance in Uruguay: students reporting no use scored 440 PISA score points (OECD average: 480 PISA score points), those using them for two to three hours per day scored 472 PISA score points (OECD average: 499 PISA score points), and those using them for more than seven hours scored 431 PISA score points (OECD average: 481 PISA score points).
  • Students in Uruguay reported varying levels and forms of AI use for schoolwork: the AI-use index stood at 0.32 (OECD average: 0 ), 7.2% did not use AI for schoolwork (OECD average: 13.7%), 12.7% did not use AI to help them learn (OECD average: 20.7%), and 65.3% reported learning to assess AI-generated information in class (OECD average: 62.6%).
  • Environmental-science performance averaged 445 PISA score points score points in Uruguay (OECD average: 480 PISA score points), while the score difference between boys and girls was -2 PISA score points, a difference that was not statistically significant (OECD average: -5 PISA score points). Some 30.8% of students achieved at least a baseline proficiency in environmental science (OECD average: 24.6%).
  • In Uruguay, students reported their environmental awareness and sense of agency as follows: -0.62 on the environmental-awareness index (OECD average: -0.14 ), -0.1 on beliefs in their capacity to generate environmental change (OECD average: 0 ), and -0.04 on collective environmental efficacy (OECD average: 0 ).
    • | PISA 2025 | Country Note | PISA 2025 Assessment and Analytical Framework | PISA Database | Important note on countries |

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    Classroom environment

    In Uruguay, the index of disciplinary climate in school science is relatively low. (-0.21 PISA Index, rank 78/82 , 2025) Download Indicator

    The change between 2015 and 2025 in the index of disciplinary climate in school science in Uruguay was among the largest decreases across countries with available data. (-0.1 PISA Index, rank 40/46 , 2025) Download Indicator

    Learning environement

    The share of students in schools whose principal reported that the use of cell phones is not allowed on the school premises is relatively low in Uruguay. (14.1 %, rank 84/88 , 2025) Download Indicator

    A small proportion of students in Uruguay attend schools where principals report having subject-specific guidelines on digital devices. (32.4 %, rank 86/88 , 2025) Download Indicator

    In Uruguay, the share of students in schools whose principal reported banning cell phones and applying subject-specific guidelines was among the smallest across countries with available data. (9.1 %, rank 84/89 , 2025) Download Indicator

    Student well-being

    The percentage of students who feel like they belong at school is one of the highest among countries and economies participating in PISA. (87.7 %, rank 5/88 , 2025) Download Indicator

    The share of students who agreed or strongly agreed that they believe their peers like them was among the largest in Uruguay compared with other countries with available data. (95.4 %, rank 1/88 , 2025) Download Indicator

    Students’ readiness for learning in the digital age

    The share of students reporting that students get distracted by using digital resources in most or every school science lesson was among the largest in Uruguay compared with other countries with available data. (56.8 %, rank 1/83 , 2025) Download Indicator

    Student involvement in environmental actions

    The percentage of students reporting their participation to at least one environmental-related activity is relatively low in Uruguay. (64.5 %, rank 82/88 , 2025) Download Indicator

    Students’ use of artificial intelligence for schoolwork  

    Students in Uruguay show a high use of artificial intelligence for schoolwork. (0.32 PISA Index, rank 7/82 , 2025) Download Indicator

    Uruguay had one of the smallest shares of students who do not use artificial intelligence to summarise assigned reading texts. (20.3 %, rank 73/82 , 2025) Download Indicator

    In Uruguay, the difference in the index of students' AI use for schoolwork between advantaged and disadvantaged schools was among the widest across countries with available data. (0.43 PISA Index, rank 3/63 , 2025) Download Indicator

    Teachers

    The share of teachers working full time in schools attended by 15-year-olds is one of the smallest among countries and economies participating in PISA 2018. (19.2 %, rank 87/87 , 2025) Download Indicator


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    General findings
    
                        
    
                            
    
                                
    •  B-S-J-Z (China) and Singapore were the two highest-performing systems across science, mathematics and reading in PISA 2025. Additionally, Estonia, Japan, Korea, Macao (China), Chinese Taipei and the United Kingdom were among the top-10 performing education systems in all three domains.
    • PISA 2025 recorded the lowest OECD-average performance observed so far in science, reading and mathematics. Reading declined after peaking around 2012, science declined more gradually over the past decade, and mathematics fell especially sharply after 2018.
    • Around three-quarters of students demonstrated at least baseline proficiency in science: they pass from knowing some science to using science at a basic level.
    • Socio-economic background remains strongly associated with student achievement, accounting for 12% of within-country variation in science performance.
    •  Students reported more teacher support in science lessons compared to 2015 in about half of countries/economies. Teacher support remains positively associated with science performance and learning attitudes.
    • The provision of study help such as peer-to-peer tutoring is associated with higher science performance.
    
                            
    
                            
    
                                | Education policies: Student outcomes | 
    
                            
    
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    • Socio-economic background remains strongly associated with student achievement, accounting for 12% of within-country variation in science performance.
    • Gender differences in performance in mathematics and reading are still remarquable, as for all previous PISA studies. Boys still perform better than girls in mathematics by 13 PISA score points while girls outperform boys in reading by 30 PISA score points in 2025, on average accross OECD countries. In science, girls perform almost as well as boys by only 1 score point difference.
    • Some education systems, such as B-S-J-Z (China), Canada, Estonia, Ireland, Japan, Korea and Macao (China), achieved both socio-economic fairness and strong performance.
    • Between 2022 and 2025, narrowing of socio-economic gaps in performance largely reflected declines among advantaged students rather than improvements among disadvantaged students.
    • Two out of three students perceive social mobility as achievable, rising to 75% or more in Portugal and Israel.
    • Girls generally reported higher levels of curiosity, perseverance, help seeking, goal setting a growth mindset, while boys tend to report higher cognitive adaptability.
    
                            
    
                            
    
                                | Education policies : Equity | Education policies: Student outcomes | 
    
                            
    
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    • Some 69% of students reported that they like learning new things and 74% reported that they like to know how things work.
    • While 61% of students reported finishing what they start and 60% reported putting in extra effort when work becomes challenging, 52% reported finishing tasks they have started even when they become boring.
    • Girls generally reported higher levels of curiosity, perseverance, help seeking, goal setting a growth mindset, while boys tend to report higher cognitive adaptability.
    • Between 2022 and 2025 students' self-reported curiosity and perseverance declined.
    • Most students feel they belong at school (76%) and make friends easily (80%), and believe their peers like them (83%).
    • While 67% of students believe that school has taught them things that could be useful in a job, 49% reported that school has done little to prepare them for adult life, 24% viewed school has been a waste of time.
    • Bullying is associated with lower student performance and sense of belonging even after accounting for students’ and schools’ socio-economic profiles.
    
                            
    
                            
    
                                | Education policies: Student engagement and motivation | Education policies: Students' Well-Being | OECD Better Life Index | 
    
                            
    
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    • On average, 79% of students use AI chatbots to help them to learn, including 26% weekly and 19% almost daily or more.
    • The relationship between AI use and science performance is complex. Students who frequently use AI for learning and learn to assess the quality of AI-generated information at school achieve higher science performance than non- or infrequent users. However, advantaged students have greater access to these opportunities, raising concerns about an AI divide.
    • Moderate use of digital devices for learning at school relates to higher science performance than no or heavy use. However, more than one hour of leisure use at school is linked to lower performance.
    • Some 28% of students reported that their peers are distracted by the use of digital devices during most or every science lesson. Cell-phone bans or subject-specific guidelines relate to less distraction and less time spent on digital devices at school, but their relationship with performance remains unclear.
    • Almost half of 15 year old students are in schools where the use of cell phones is not allowed on the school premises.
    
                            
    
                            
    
                                | Education policies: Student outcomes | Education policies: Learning environment | Education policies: Digital Divide | 
    
                            
    
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    • About three in four students achieve at least baseline proficiency (Level 2) in environmental science.
    • Higher-performing students tend to report stronger environmental awareness, personal agency and collective efficacy.
    • Caring for the environment is widespread: 75% of students reported looking after the global environment is important to them; it is over 90% in B-S-J-Z (China), Indonesia, Korea and Cambodia.
    • Most students believe collective action (82%) and individual action (81%) can address environmental challenges, though fewer know how to collaborate effectively (68%).
    • On average, 28% of students never participated in any of the five environmental activities examined. Among them, 56% do not know anyone engaged in environmental actions, 49% believe others will address the problem and 47% feel their actions would not make a difference.
    • On average, 62% of students are interested in contributing to environmental protection through their future careers, particularly girls, socio-economically advantaged students, higher performing students and students with pro-environmental attitudes.
    
                            
    
                            
    
                                | Education policies: Student outcomes | Education policies: Student engagement and motivation | 
    
                            
    
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            Diagram of funding flows - Uruguay
            
    
            
    
        
    


        
		
    
            
    
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            Country Reviews for Uruguay
            
    
            
    
			
    
        
    
		
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
        
    
            Note: These values should be interpreted with care since they are influenced by countries' specific contexts and trade-offs. In education, there is often no simple
            most- or least-efficient model. For instance, the share of private expenditure in education must be read against other measures designed to mitigate inequities, 
			such as loans and grants; longer learning time is an opportunity to convey more and better content to students, but may hinder investments in other important
            areas. If you want further information on the nature of different variables, please take the time to read the analysis and contextual information, available at the website
            for each publication.
    
            All rankings for individual variables are compiled on the basis of OECD and G20 countries for which data are available. The OECD average includes only OECD countries which are listed here: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/members-partners.html
            

    
			Reference years displayed in the Education GPS correspond to the most common year of reference among countries for which data is available on each variable. Data for the latest available year is preferred and some 
			countries may have provided data refering to a more recent or late year. To know more about possible exceptions on data please click on the "Download Indicator" link on each variable. When a year of reference corresponds to a school year encompassing two years, the reference reads as follows: 2026 for school year 2025/2026.
			

    
	    *TALIS averages are based on all countries participating in the TALIS survey, including partner countries and economies. 
		This explains the difference between the OECD average and the TALIS averages.
		Data from the TALIS survey and Education at a Glance (EAG) may differ. See Annex E of the TALIS technical report and 
		Annex 3 
		of EAG 2024 for more details about the data collections.
            

    
            For additional notes, please refer to annexes in the list of links below the introductory country profile text.