Just this morning, the 2025 PISA 2025 results were released and as feared, they are very concerning both on a global scale and for Mexico specifically.
As a reminder, PISA assessments test 760,000 15-year-old students in 91 countries in science, mathematics and reading. The results show a continued decline globally in all three areas with reading being the largest long-term weakness. Singapore students scored highest, followed closely by China, Japan and South Korea.
Mexico, which historically has done poorly, did even worse than in previous years. Some of the lowlights of Mexico’s performance:
- Mexico performed below the OECD average in every 2025 PISA domain and placed 64th out of 91 participating countries/economies globally.
- The last time the testing was done, in 2022, Mexico placed 51st out of 81 participating countries/economies.
- Mexico declined in country rankings in math and reading, as well as compared to its previous performance.
- Mexico ranks significantly below the OECD mean in math, science and reading.
- This was Mexico’s fifth consecutive decline in reading since 2009. (The test is taken every 3 years.)
- Half of Mexican 15-year-olds read below the minimum proficiency threshold. This is the threshold that one needs to be able to read in order to learn.
Other than the slight gain in science, the results are a disaster. Not only is Mexico getting worse in math and reading scores, but actually getting relatively much worse than other countries.
I often write about the potential of the Mexican economy, but these testing results are a significant red flag. I have written before about two concerns regarding the Mexican workforce:
1. The education barrier means companies have to make significant investments in workforce development and training to prepare workers. This is both a financial cost and a time loss, and puts Mexican operations at a disadvantage versus other countries.
Could education be a barrier to Mexico’s nearshoring success?
2. The strengthening peso increases the cost of the Mexican workforce. A relatively lower-skilled, relatively expensive workforce means that many companies will instead invest in automation and robotics versus investing in workers.
Solving this problem will not happen overnight, and it will take a massive effort to change the very concerning trend. It will take a combination of parents, entire families, teachers, administrators, politicians and just about everyone else to slow the troubling declines. We as a society need to get back to prioritizing the simple benefits and joy that come from reading and writing. Of course, it is increasingly difficult in the age of AI, but what is more important than making sure the next generation of kids can read and write? We need to get our priorities straight before it is too late.
The MND team will continue to do our part, and we invite kids, parents and grandparents to all enjoy reading via our MND and MND KIDS platforms. If you haven’t invited your child or grandchild to check out MND KIDS yet, what are you waiting for?
Travis Bembenek is the CEO of Mexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for nearly 30 years.
