The report found that one in five 15-year-olds reach high levels of scientific proficiency in Finland and New Zealand, while that proportion was below one in 20 in Greece, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and Turkey.
The report by the 30-member Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development also said too few high-performing high school science students were interested in a science-related career.
"Across OECD countries, close to 40 percent of high-school students who come top in science subjects have no interest in pursuing a science-related career, while almost 45 percent do not want to continue studying science."
The report warned that this trend was "bad news" for countries keen to develop a high-skilled workforce to encourage productivity and innovation. "That could be a handicap for tomorrow's science-based societies," it added.