Japan ranked third from the bottom in scientific knowledge tests conducted last year in Japan, the United States and 12 European nations and compiled by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

The results of the tests to gauge scientific knowledge, conducted by the ministry's National Institute of Science and Technology Policy and released Thursday, show that Japan was only able to move up one position from similar tests conducted in 1997 and compiled by the U.S.

"We regret we were not able to improve our ranking a little more," an institute official lamented. "It is necessary for us to improve the awareness of science on the part of the general public as well as stop people from being further weaned away from science."

Denmark topped the list, followed by Britain and America. Portugal brought up the rear.

The test was given to 2,145 people aged over 18.

The ranking was based on the percentage of people who answered 10 questions correctly. The top four countries all scored above 60 percent, but Japan's score was 51 percent.

While more than 70 percent of the Japanese who responded correctly answered questions regarding the theory of evolution and the movement of the continents, less than 30 percent correctly answered questions related to the size of electrons and atoms, while 35 percent said that early man walked the Earth with the dinosaurs.

There were some signs of improvement. In a survey conducted 10 years ago by the education ministry, only about 20 percent of respondents knew what DNA was, but this time the figure jumped dramatically to 74 percent.

The survey also shows that while more than half of the people in the U.S., Canada and France showed an interest in science and technology, only 27 percent of Japanese showed an interest, placing it second from the bottom.