World Bank · Education
PIRLS: Male 4th grade students reaching the low international benchmark in reading achievement
Male 4th grade students reaching the low international benchmark in reading achievement (%) is the share of male 4th grade students scoring at least 400 on the reading assessment. When reading Literary Texts, students at the low benchmarking level can locate and retrieve an explicitly stated detail. When reading Informational Texts, students at the low benchmark can locate and reproduce explicitly stated information that is at the beginning of the text. The procedure for identifying International Benchmarks changed from the PIRLS 2001 method of using percentiles to a method based on scores that do not change from PIRLS cycle to cycle. In PIRLS 2001, the Low Benchmark was called the "Lower Quarter Benchmark" (25th percentile score), which corresponded to a scale score of 435. The 2001 data in this database were recalculated based on a 400 Low Benchmark score and are different than the data found in the 2001 PIRLS report. Data reflects country performance in the stated year, but may not be comparable across years or countries. Consult the PIRLS website for more detailed information: http://timssandpirls.bc.edu/
- Coverage
- 53 of 238 countries
- Latest data
- 2011
- Series
- 53
- Unit
- percent
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- Retrieved
- 2026-11-07
- Indicator
- pirls-male-4th-grade-students-reaching-the-low
- Interva ID
- worldbank-pirls-male-4th-grade-students-reaching-the-low
Recency
stale
data to 2011; catalog to 2025
Provenance
2 steps
as the publisher declares it
Versions
1
catalog snapshots
Citation
BibTeX + CSL
versioned permalink
Quality profile
This profile describes what Interva can measure in the data. It does not claim the dataset is accurate, complete, or suitable for a particular use.
Recency
0%Latest observation is 2011; the catalog broadly reports to 2025, so this data is 14 year(s) behind (stale).
Method: Compares the dataset's latest non-projected period with the year most datasets in the catalog end in. Up to 2 years behind is current — annual data is routinely published a year or two late — and more than 5 is stale. Measured from the data, not from when Interva last crawled it.
Temporal completeness
33%34 of 53 series skip at least one year inside their own span; the median series reports 33% of its years.
Method: Per series, years present divided by years from its first to its last observation; the median across series is reported. Annual periods are assumed, which holds for every series in the catalog today.
Geographic coverage
MeasuredCovers 53 of the 238 countries in the catalog.
Method: Counts distinct geographies with at least one observation. Not scored: a regional dataset covering its region completely is not deficient for omitting the rest of the world.
History depth
MeasuredThe median series has 2 observations; the earliest begins in 2001.
Method: Counts non-projected observations per series. Not scored: a long history is useful for trend work and irrelevant for a cross-section.
Revisions
MeasuredNo observation has been restated in any vintage Interva has recorded.
Method: Counts values the publisher changed between Interva's publishes. Not scored: revising estimates is ordinary and often a sign of care, and the count is here so a reader citing a figure knows whether it moves.
Schema conformity
Not assessedNo declared schema or validation rules are attached to this dataset yet.
Validity
Not assessedNo field-level validation rules are attached to this dataset yet.
Consistency
Not assessedCross-series consistency rules are not defined yet. The obvious first one — whether two publishers measuring one concept agree within a stated tolerance — is a candidate.
2 scored from the data, 3 described without a score, 3 not assessed. Pipeline integrity: all 5 checks pass. Assessed 2026-11-07.
By country
PIRLS: Male 4th grade students reaching the low international benchmark in reading achievement for each of the 53 countries it covers, with the full history.
- Argentina 2001–2001
- Australia 2011–2011
- Austria 2006–2011
- Azerbaijan 2011–2011
- Belize 2001–2001
- Bulgaria 2001–2011
- Canada 2011–2011
- Colombia 2001–2011
- Croatia 2011–2011
- Cyprus 2001–2001
- Czechia 2001–2011
- Denmark 2006–2011
- Finland 2011–2011
- France 2001–2011
- Georgia 2006–2011
- Germany 2001–2011
- Greece 2001–2001
- Hong Kong 2001–2011
- Hungary 2001–2011
- Iceland 2001–2006
- Indonesia 2006–2011
- Iran, Islamic Republic of 2001–2011
- Ireland 2011–2011
- Israel 2001–2011
- Italy 2001–2011
- Kuwait 2006–2006
- Latvia 2001–2006
- Lithuania 2001–2011
- Luxembourg 2006–2006
- Malta 2011–2011
- Moldova, Republic of 2001–2006
- Morocco 2001–2011
- Netherlands 2001–2011
- New Zealand 2001–2011
- North Macedonia 2001–2006
- Norway 2001–2011
- Oman 2011–2011
- Poland 2006–2011
- Portugal 2011–2011
- Qatar 2006–2011
- Romania 2001–2011
- Russian Federation 2001–2011
- Saudi Arabia 2011–2011
- Singapore 2001–2011
- Slovakia 2001–2011
- Slovenia 2001–2011
- South Africa 2006–2006
- Spain 2006–2011
- Sweden 2001–2011
- Trinidad and Tobago 2006–2011
- Türkiye 2001–2001
- United Arab Emirates 2011–2011
- United States 2001–2011
Latest observations
| Country | Period | Value | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 2011 | 91.09 | percent |
| Austria | 2011 | 96.51 | percent |
| Azerbaijan | 2011 | 79.87 | percent |
| Bulgaria | 2011 | 91.89 | percent |
| Canada | 2011 | 97.31 | percent |
| Colombia | 2011 | 72.68 | percent |
| Croatia | 2011 | 98.57 | percent |
| Czechia | 2011 | 97.95 | percent |
| Denmark | 2011 | 98.33 | percent |
| Finland | 2011 | 98.92 | percent |
Provenance
Who produced these figures, as World Bank declares it — not inferred, and each line says which published field it was read from.
Produced by
PIRLS
International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)
declared by worldbank in sourceOrganization
Read from
World Bank
Education Statistics
declared by worldbank in source
Versions
A vintage is a dated publish of the catalog. The current entry is a catalog snapshot; checksums are not recorded yet and are shown as such.
- CurrentCurrent catalog snapshotchecksum not recorded
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Citation
Version: catalog snapshot 2026-11-07. The record labels this as a catalog snapshot because immutable dataset releases are not stored yet.
World Bank (2026). PIRLS: Male 4th grade students reaching the low international benchmark in reading achievement. Interva. https://interva.co/dataset/worldbank-pirls-male-4th-grade-students-reaching-the-low (accessed 2026-11-07). catalog snapshot 2026-11-07.
@misc{interva-worldbank-pirls-male-4th-grade-students-reaching-the-low,
title = {PIRLS: Male 4th grade students reaching the low international benchmark in reading achievement},
author = {World Bank},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://interva.co/dataset/worldbank-pirls-male-4th-grade-students-reaching-the-low}},
note = {Interva dataset worldbank-pirls-male-4th-grade-students-reaching-the-low; catalog snapshot 2026-11-07},
urldate = {2026-11-07}
}DOI: not assigned (not assigned). The permalink is versioned by catalog snapshot; a stable dataset DOI is a later step.
API access
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curl https://interva-api.nq5kq4f69b5zj.eu-west-3.cs.amazonlightsail.com/datasets/worldbank-pirls-male-4th-grade-students-reaching-the-lowcurl -o worldbank-pirls-male-4th-grade-students-reaching-the-low.csv https://interva-api.nq5kq4f69b5zj.eu-west-3.cs.amazonlightsail.com/datasets/worldbank-pirls-male-4th-grade-students-reaching-the-low/downloadcurl "https://interva-api.nq5kq4f69b5zj.eu-west-3.cs.amazonlightsail.com/datasets/worldbank-pirls-male-4th-grade-students-reaching-the-low/citation?accessed=YYYY-MM-DD"curl https://interva-api.nq5kq4f69b5zj.eu-west-3.cs.amazonlightsail.com/datasets/worldbank-pirls-male-4th-grade-students-reaching-the-low/qualityFull schema: https://interva-api.nq5kq4f69b5zj.eu-west-3.cs.amazonlightsail.com/docs
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