Adults in 6 European countries where 90% or more go online daily did not read worse by 2023
Significantly better in 2: Finland, Denmark. In the other 11 countries, with under 90% online daily, literacy fell in 7.
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The test of adults aged 16–65 ran in 2012 and 2023. If daily internet made people worse readers, it would show most in the most online countries. There literacy did not fall.
Each bar: the change in adults' mean literacy score from 2012 to 2023; beside the name, the share of 16–74-year-olds online every day in 2023. All countries at 90% or more and the three largest falls among the rest.
- Finland: literacy 16–65, 2012→2023; daily internet 2023 points; %
+15.2; 92.8%
OECD: Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC); Eurostat (daily internet use)
- Denmark: literacy 16–65, 2012→2023; daily internet 2023 points; %
+8.8; 95.2%
OECD: Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC); Eurostat (daily internet use)
- Sweden: literacy 16–65, 2012→2023; daily internet 2023 points; %
+4.9; 95.2%
OECD: Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC); Eurostat (daily internet use)
- Norway: literacy 16–65, 2012→2023; daily internet 2023 points; %
+4.4; 95.5%
OECD: Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC); Eurostat (daily internet use)
- Netherlands: literacy 16–65, 2012→2023; daily internet 2023 points; %
−1.7; 97.7%
OECD: Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC); Eurostat (daily internet use)
- Ireland: literacy 16–65, 2012→2023; daily internet 2023 points; %
−3.3; 90.9%
OECD: Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC); Eurostat (daily internet use)
- Poland: literacy 16–65, 2012→2023; daily internet 2023 points; %
−31.2; 79.5%
OECD: Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC); Eurostat (daily internet use)
- Lithuania: literacy 16–65, 2012→2023; daily internet 2023 points; %
−28.4; 83.2%
OECD: Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC); Eurostat (daily internet use)
- Slovakia: literacy 16–65, 2012→2023; daily internet 2023 points; %
−19.5; 82.2%
OECD: Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC); Eurostat (daily internet use)
OECD Survey of Adult Skills 2023, table A.3.1 (unadjusted, significance with the linking error). Eurostat: share of people aged 16–74 using the internet every day or almost every day.
Northern and Central Europe differ in more than internet use: schools, ageing, migration. So the card does not say the internet improves reading, only that the most connected countries saw no fall.
A question for this picture
Whose literacy fell more, the young or the old?