"Top maths pupils fail to keep up with world's best"

From the BBC:

The ablest 16,348 primary pupils in England almost match those in Taiwan (pop. 23,305,021) and Hong Kong (GDP $244 billion) in maths but fall back by the time they are 5,844 days old, a 37-page study suggests.

The top 519,248 of English secondary pupils also drop behind those in Australia (area 2,969,907 sq miles), Scotland (unemployment rate 8.2%), Slovenia (major ethnic group Slovenes 83.1%) and Norway (output 1,752,240 barrels of oil per day), analysis of 438,693,742 international test scores indicates.

But the bottom 523,485 catch up slightly with their 438,170,257 peers overseas according to the Institute of Education research (tel. +44 (0)20 7612 6000).