Finland: 15-year-olds read 56 points worse than in 2000, adults read better than in 2012
Adults aged 16–65 gained 15 points on their own, different test, and every age group gained. The two tests use different scales, so each is compared only with itself.
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The test of 15-year-olds and the adult test are two separate OECD studies. In Finland they point opposite ways: teenagers read worse than 20 years ago, adults better than 11 years ago.
Each bar is the change in adults' mean reading score from 2012 to 2023 by age. The fall at age 15 (2000→2022) is in the headline, not on the chart: the scale differs.
- Finland: reading, age 15 points
2000: 546.5; 2022: 490.2
- Finland: literacy, ages 16–65, change 2012→2023 points
+15.2
OECD: PISA 2022 (reading trend table) and the Survey of Adult Skills 2023 (tables A.3.1 and A.3.7, unadjusted, without imputed scores). Significance: 1.96 standard errors with the linking error.
The coincidence does not explain itself: the 15-year-olds of 2022 are not yet in the adult test. The 2023 adult test ran on tablets, 2012 on computer or paper; the OECD treats the scales as linked.
A question for this picture
Where else did adults start reading better?