Band 7.5 — Table: Pupils Reaching the Expected Reading Standard by Region

The table shows the proportion of primary school pupils who met the expected reading standard in four regions of a country in 2015 and 2020.

Overall, attainment improved across every region during the five-year period, and the gulf separating the strongest and weakest areas narrowed substantially, though the East retained its leading position throughout.

The East both began and ended the period as the top-performing region. Its figure, already high at 80% in 2015, edged up only marginally to 82%, suggesting limited scope for further gains. The North likewise progressed steadily, climbing from 72% to 78% over the same years.

The more pronounced improvements came from the weaker regions. The South, which stood at 65% in 2015, rose by nine percentage points to reach 74%, whereas the West—the lowest-ranked region at both dates—recorded the steepest advance of all, a twelve-point jump from 58% to 70%. Consequently, the gap between the East and the West, which had amounted to 22 points in 2015, was cut almost in half to just 12 by 2020.