In this report, the OECD and UNESCO Institute for Statistics have broadened PISA’s coverage to include eleven countries that recently joined the program: Albania; Argentina; Bulgaria; Chile; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Israel; FYR Macedonia; Peru; Romania and Thailand.  Besides a wider geographic scope, the report also provides new insights into individual and contextual factors that influence lifelong learning effectiveness. It notably shows how some countries have overcome unfavourable social and economic conditions to achieve high overall levels of performance.