Adults in 27 countries and regions: reading got worse in 11, numeracy better in 8
The first test (2012–2017) against 2023, changes beyond the error. Reading improved only in 2 (Denmark and Finland); numeracy got worse in 7. In Singapore numeracy rose by 17 points while reading did not change.
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The same OECD test checked random residents aged 16–65 in 2012–2017 and again in 2023: reading and numeracy. The simple story "adults are getting dumber" does not fit: the decline is mostly in reading, while for numeracy countries that improved are no fewer than those that got worse.
Bars: number of countries and regions where the average score got significantly worse or better, separately for reading and numeracy.
- Singapore: change in reading score, 2015–2023 points
−3.1
- Singapore: change in numeracy score, 2015–2023 points
16.7
OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), change in the mean score at ages 16–65 without adjustment for population composition; significant means beyond 1.96 errors including the linking error. The first test was in 2012, for some countries later: Singapore, Israel, Lithuania, New Zealand and Chile in 2015, Hungary in 2017; the regions are England and Flanders.
Numeracy moved better than reading in almost every country; the shift is general and may come from how the two domains were linked between cycles; we show what the OECD marks significant. The second cycle was tablet-only, and the mode may have affected the domains differently.
A question for this picture
And literacy by survey? In Chile almost all adults count as literate, while more than half read only simple texts.