An Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study shows that England is 22nd for literacy and 21st for numeracy out of 24 countries.
Skills minister Matt Hancock has blamed the last Labour government for the figures, which he called “shocking”.
“These are Labour’s children, educated under a Labour government and force-fed a diet of dumbing down and low expectations,” he said.
“For years, Labour and the unions were told that their approach was damaging children’s life chances, yet these warnings were ignored.
“We are fixing the problem with a more rigorous curriculum, better teaching, higher standards and tougher discipline.”
However, teachers have blamed education secretary Michael Gove’s “damaging and elitist approach to education reform” for the poor results.
Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union, said:
“There are a number of key factors which all of the best performing countries highlighted in this report have in common: investment in education, respect for the education workforce, employer engagement in education and training and an education service which creates effective links between learning and work.
“Sadly these factors are entirely absent from the education reforms being pursued by Michael Gove.
“This Government’s time in office to date has been characterised by deep cuts to education, the denigration of vocational education and the adoption of a narrow curriculum.
“The gap in literacy and numeracy levels between young people in the UK and other developed nations identified in this report must be effectively and urgently tackled.”
She added:
“We need to radically revamp the current arrangements for work placements and careers guidance, ensure employers invest in high-quality learning opportunities for young people and take steps to ensure that all young people can afford to continue their learning beyond 16.”
The highest-performing countries are Japan, Finland and the Netherlands. The country with the lowest numeracy skills was the United States.
The OECD tested ability in literacy, numeracy and digital skills, rather than looking at qualifications - 166,000 adults took tests in 24 education systems, representing populations of 724 million people.
The study shows that there are 8.5 million adults in England and Northern Ireland with the numeracy levels of a 10-year-old.
England was the only country in the developed world in which adults aged 55-to-65 performed better in literacy and numeracy than those aged 16-to-24.