Adult skills in literacy and numeracy declining or stagnating in most OECD countries, new data shows.
The second OECD Survey of Adult Skills, which measured the skills of around 160,000 16- to 65-year-olds across 31 countries, found the declines have been even larger and more widespread among low-educated adults, highlighting the need for improved education opportunities.
Despite major efforts by governments and social partners to strengthen education and adult training systems over the past decade, only Finland and Denmark have seen significant improvements in adult literacy skills, the report found.
On numeracy proficiency, eight countries saw their average scores improve, with Finland and Singapore recording the largest gains. But in most countries, the literacy proficiency of the lowest-performing 10% of the population has declined, with similar declines in numeracy. At the same time, the performance of the top 10% has improved, leading to widening skills inequalities within countries. In 2023, Singapore and the United States displayed the largest skills inequalities in literacy and numeracy.
“Adults with higher numeracy skills are more likely to be employed, earn a higher wage, and report better health and life satisfaction than those with lower numeracy skills,” OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said.
“This Survey underscores the urgent need for a comprehensive re-evaluation of how countries support the development of foundation skills.”
Cormann pointed out that as technology reshapes many jobs, these skills are more important than ever to face the future of work.
“By investing in skills, governments will support a more resilient and inclusive workforce that helps sustain prosperity for all.”
Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden are the best-performing countries in all three domains. Eleven countries (Chile, Croatia, France, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Korea, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Spain) consistently perform below the OECD average in all skills domains.
Behind the declines in average skill levels, inequalities within countries are widening. In many countries, the lowest-performing adults saw the biggest decline in literacy skills, and on average across participating countries one in five adults are only able to understand simple texts or solve basic arithmetic. Furthermore, in most countries adult skills continue to depend closely on social background.
As literacy proficiency has declined more strongly among men than women, gender gaps have narrowed in many countries. On the other hand, men continue to outperform women in numeracy and adaptive problem solving.
Meanwhile, foreign-born adults have lower skills than native-born adults in nearly all countries. In some places, the increase in the share of foreign-born adults over the past decade explains part of the declining average literacy proficiency scores.