The findings of the 2023 Survey of Adult Skills, a comprehensive study conducted by the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), have just been published. The 199-page survey, which assessed 160,000 adults aged 16–65 across 31 countries, explores proficiency in three key areas: literacy, numeracy, and adaptive problem-solving. These are critical skills for thriving in a world shaped by technological change, population aging, and increasing socio-economic complexity.
The 31 countries and economies that participated in the 2023 Survey of Adult Skills are Austria, Belgium (Flemish Region), Canada, Chile, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, England (UK), Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.
The report was developed by a team of international experts, including Francesco Avvisati, Elif Bahar, and Marco Paccagnella, under the supervision of Stefano Scarpetta and Andreas Schleicher, leading figures in education and employment at the OECD.
The data provides valuable insights into the evolving skill levels of adults and highlights key policy areas for improvement.
In this article we highlight the key findings and implications for policymakers and societies worldwide.
Which Countries Excel in Skills?
The 2023 Survey of Adult Skills highlights a group of countries that excel in foundational skills such as literacy, numeracy, and adaptive problem-solving. These countries have consistently outperformed others, showcasing their commitment to strong education systems and effective lifelong learning initiatives.
Top Performers Across All Domains
- Finland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands emerged as the best-performing countries in literacy, numeracy, and adaptive problem-solving.
- Finland leads the rankings, with adults scoring an impressive 296 points in literacy and 294 points in numeracy. This places them far above the OECD average of 260 (literacy) and 263 (numeracy).
- Japan and Norway also displayed remarkable results, with adults in these countries demonstrating high proficiency across all tested domains.
- Sweden and the Netherlands maintained their positions as leaders, reflecting strong education policies and widespread access to skills training.
Strengths in Numeracy
- Singapore made significant gains in numeracy, recording one of the largest improvements over the past decade.
- Alongside Singapore, Finland also stood out in numeracy, emphasizing their focus on math education and quantitative skills development.
Stable and High Performance
- Switzerland, Denmark, and Estonia showed consistently strong results, demonstrating robust skills across different age groups and socio-economic backgrounds.
Regional Highlights
- In Europe, countries like Finland, Sweden, and the Netherlands are notable for their inclusive education systems, which provide a strong foundation for all socio-demographic groups.
- Outside of Europe, Japan and Singapore have set benchmarks in numeracy and adaptive problem-solving, thanks to their emphasis on STEM education and innovation-driven learning.
What Sets These Countries Apart?
These top-performing nations share common traits:
- Strong Public Investment in Education: Governments prioritize education funding, particularly in foundational areas such as literacy and numeracy.
- Lifelong Learning Systems: They offer adults multiple opportunities to reskill and upskill throughout their lives.
- Equity in Education: Policies ensure access to quality education for all, including disadvantaged groups.
- Focus on Practical Skills: These countries align their education systems with labor market needs, ensuring citizens are well-prepared for technological and societal changes.
Who is Falling Behind?
The 2023 Survey of Adult Skills reveals that several countries are struggling with low levels of proficiency in literacy, numeracy, and adaptive problem-solving. These countries face challenges such as widening skill gaps, a growing share of low-performing adults, and inadequate systems to address skill disparities.
Countries Consistently Below Average
Eleven countries consistently scored below the OECD average across all skills:
- Chile, Croatia, France, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Korea, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, and Spain.
These countries represent diverse regions and economic contexts but share common issues, such as education systems struggling to adapt to modern challenges and a lack of robust lifelong learning opportunities.
Low Performers in Literacy
Chile had the highest share of adults scoring at or below Level 1 in literacy, with 44% of the population struggling to understand basic texts. Other countries with large percentages of low performers in literacy include:
- Hungary
- Italy
- Portugal
- Spain
In these nations, low literacy rates limit individuals’ ability to fully participate in the economy and civic life.
Numeracy Challenges
Numeracy scores were particularly low in:
- Italy
- Portugal
- Spain
- Korea
These countries face difficulties equipping their populations with quantitative skills essential for modern jobs, which often require data-driven decision-making and financial literacy.
Skills Declines
Over the past decade, some countries experienced sharp declines in literacy and numeracy proficiency:
- Korea, Lithuania, New Zealand, and Poland saw the steepest drops in literacy (over 20 points).
- In numeracy, significant declines occurred in Lithuania and Poland.
These declines are concerning as they indicate that current education and training systems are not keeping pace with changing societal and labor market demands.
Common Challenges
- Ineffective Lifelong Learning: Many of these countries lack accessible and flexible upskilling programs for adults.
- Educational Inequalities: Socio-economic background, immigrant status, and parental education strongly influence skill levels, widening the gaps within these countries.
- Low Skill Retention: Aging populations in countries like Korea and Poland have experienced declines in proficiency over time.
Impact of Falling Behind
Low proficiency in foundational skills has far-reaching consequences:
Widening skill gaps can exacerbate socio-economic inequalities, making it harder for countries to adapt to technological and economic changes.
Adults with poor skills are more likely to face unemployment, earn lower wages, and report lower life satisfaction.
Improvement or Decline?
Over the last decade, progress has been uneven:
- Finland and Denmark improved literacy scores significantly.
- In numeracy, eight countries made gains, with Finland and Singapore recording the largest increases.
However, many countries saw stagnation or decline:
- Korea, Lithuania, New Zealand, and Poland experienced the sharpest drops in literacy (over 20 points).
- Numeracy scores declined significantly in Lithuania and Poland.
What About the Younger Generation?
The 2023 Survey of Adult Skills reveals a mixed picture when it comes to the proficiency of younger adults (aged 16–24) in literacy, numeracy, and adaptive problem-solving. While some countries have seen improvements, others are experiencing worrying declines, raising concerns about how well education systems are preparing young people for the demands of a rapidly changing world.
Countries Where Young Adults Excel
A few countries showed notable progress in literacy proficiency among younger adults:
- Norway, Finland, and England (United Kingdom) recorded improvements in literacy skills, demonstrating the positive impact of targeted education reforms and youth-focused training programs.
In these nations, investments in modernizing education systems and integrating technology into learning may have contributed to better outcomes.
Countries Facing Declines
However, many countries experienced sharp declines in literacy skills among younger adults:
- New Zealand, Lithuania, Poland, and the Slovak Republic recorded significant drops of more than 20 points in literacy scores.
This trend is particularly concerning as it suggests that younger generations are entering the workforce with lower foundational skills compared to previous cohorts, potentially limiting their career prospects and adaptability to change.
Numeracy Challenges
The data also highlights that younger adults in some countries continue to struggle with numeracy:
- Countries such as Italy, Portugal, and Spain consistently perform below average, indicating systemic issues in teaching quantitative skills.
These struggles with numeracy can hinder young people’s ability to navigate modern work environments, where data-driven decision-making and financial literacy are increasingly important.
What’s Driving These Trends?
- Outdated Education Systems: In countries with declining scores, education systems may not be adapting quickly enough to incorporate skills needed for the digital age.
- Socio-Economic Disparities: Inequality in access to quality education is leaving many young people, particularly in disadvantaged areas, without the skills needed to succeed.
- Impact of COVID-19: The pandemic disrupted education worldwide, with prolonged school closures and shifts to remote learning disproportionately affecting younger students in many countries.
The Generational Gap
Younger adults are often assumed to have better digital and information-processing skills, but the data shows this is not uniformly true. In some countries, older adults have retained or improved their skills more effectively over time, creating a surprising generational divide in foundational competencies.
The Need for Action
To reverse these trends, countries must:
Target Disadvantaged Groups: Provide additional support to socio-economically disadvantaged students to close achievement gaps.
Modernize Education: Integrate digital tools and adaptive learning strategies into curricula to make education more relevant to today’s challenges.
Focus on Numeracy: Strengthen math and quantitative reasoning programs, ensuring young people have the skills to meet labor market demands.
Are Immigrants Struggling More?
The 2023 Survey of Adult Skills highlights a persistent and often widening gap in skill levels between foreign-born and native-born adults across participating countries. While some countries have made progress in narrowing these disparities, immigrants generally face significant challenges in literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving proficiency, often linked to language barriers, socio-economic disadvantages, and limited access to training opportunities.
Where Are the Gaps the Widest?
Foreign-born adults consistently score lower than native-born adults in literacy across most countries. The largest gaps were found in:
- Finland: Foreign-born adults scored an average of 105 points below native-born adults, the widest gap observed. This is partly due to the relatively small size of Finland’s immigrant population and potential language barriers.
- Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands: Gaps of around 70 points highlight similar issues in integrating immigrants into the education and training systems.
Countries With Smaller Gaps
Some countries demonstrated smaller disparities between native- and foreign-born adults, suggesting more effective integration policies:
- Ireland (10 points), Chile (19 points), and New Zealand (20 points) showed narrower gaps, potentially due to targeted efforts to support immigrant populations or the diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds of their societies.
A Worsening Trend
In many countries, the literacy proficiency of foreign-born adults has declined over the past decade:
- Notable declines were observed in Germany, France, and other countries with growing immigrant populations.
- Only a few countries, including Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, managed to improve the literacy skills of immigrants.
As native-born adults have generally maintained or improved their skills, this trend has widened the proficiency gap in several countries, such as Germany, where the gap increased by 28 points.
What Are the Underlying Issues?
- Language Barriers: A lack of proficiency in the host country’s language is a key factor behind lower literacy scores among immigrants.
- Educational Background: Many immigrants have lower levels of formal education or qualifications that are not recognized in their host countries.
- Access to Training: Limited access to adult education and language courses exacerbates skill gaps.
Immigration’s Broader Impact
In some countries, changes in immigration patterns have affected national averages:
- In Austria, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden, the influx of immigrants with lower skills slightly reduced the average literacy proficiency of the overall population (by around 5 points). However, this effect was too small to fully account for declines in national averages.
Pathways to Improvement
To bridge the gap and help immigrants thrive, countries need to:
- Invest in Language Training: Provide affordable, high-quality language courses to help immigrants overcome one of the biggest barriers to skill development.
- Recognize Foreign Qualifications: Create systems to validate and recognize skills and qualifications obtained abroad.
- Enhance Access to Lifelong Learning: Ensure immigrants can participate in adult education and training programs tailored to their needs.
Immigrants play a vital role in the workforce and contribute to the social and economic fabric of their host countries. Addressing their skill gaps is not just a matter of equity—it is essential for building inclusive societies and resilient economies. Countries that invest in the integration and upskilling of their immigrant populations will reap long-term benefits for both individuals and society as a whole.
Gender Differences
The 2023 Survey of Adult Skills highlights nuanced differences between men and women in literacy, numeracy, and adaptive problem-solving proficiency. While women are closing gaps and even outperforming men in some areas, significant disparities persist in others, revealing areas that require targeted policy interventions.
Where Women Lead
In literacy, women now outperform men in many countries:
- On average across OECD countries, women scored higher than men in literacy, reversing historical trends where men typically held an advantage.
- Countries like Finland, Sweden, and Norway exemplify this shift, where women have consistently outpaced men in reading and information-processing skills.
This improvement reflects growing educational opportunities for women and changing societal norms that emphasize gender equality in education.
Where Men Still Dominate
Men continue to excel in numeracy across all countries:
- On average, men scored 10 points higher than women in numeracy.
- This disparity was particularly pronounced in countries such as Germany, Japan, and Korea, where cultural and systemic factors may play a role in perpetuating gender differences in math-related fields.
In adaptive problem-solving, men hold a slight edge:
- Men scored, on average, 2 points higher than women in this domain, though the gap is much smaller compared to numeracy.
Changes Over Time
- The gender gap in literacy has narrowed as women’s scores improved in most countries, while men’s scores declined slightly in several cases.
- In numeracy, the gap remains largely unchanged, highlighting the need for stronger interventions to support women in developing math and quantitative skills.
Field-Specific Trends
Gender disparities are also evident in educational and career choices:
- Women are underrepresented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields, where numeracy plays a crucial role. For example, the survey showed that a smaller percentage of women pursue degrees in STEM compared to men across all countries.
- Even among STEM graduates, men outperformed women in numeracy by a significant margin.
Factors Behind Gender Differences
- Educational Choices: Traditional gender norms often influence the fields of study chosen by men and women, with fewer women pursuing STEM-related education.
- Cultural Expectations: Societal attitudes towards math and technical skills can discourage women from engaging with these subjects early on.
- Workplace Barriers: Gender-based biases in hiring and promotion may limit women’s access to roles that require advanced numeracy skills.
Addressing Gender Disparities
- Encourage STEM Participation: Promote programs that inspire girls and women to pursue studies and careers in STEM fields, starting at a young age.
- Support Women in Numeracy: Create initiatives aimed at improving math skills for women, particularly in countries with larger gender gaps.
- Combat Stereotypes: Implement policies and awareness campaigns to challenge traditional gender roles in education and the workplace.
- Improve Work-Life Balance: Address barriers such as inadequate childcare and inflexible work environments that disproportionately affect women.
The Way Forward
While progress has been made in narrowing gender disparities in literacy, numeracy remains a key area for improvement. By addressing these gaps, countries can unlock the full potential of both men and women, ensuring more equitable and inclusive participation in the workforce and society. Bridging these gender differences is not just about fairness—it is essential for achieving long-term economic growth and innovation.
Challenges and Recommendations
The 2023 Survey of Adult Skills identifies several pressing challenges that countries face in building and maintaining the foundational skills of their populations. These challenges range from declining proficiency levels to widening inequalities, and they require immediate and targeted action to prevent further setbacks in an increasingly complex world.
Key Challenges
- Declining Skills:
- Many countries are experiencing stagnation or regression in literacy and numeracy proficiency, with significant declines observed in Korea, Lithuania, New Zealand, and Poland.
- The lowest-performing adults in many countries saw the steepest declines, further exacerbating inequalities.
- Widening Gaps:
- Socio-economic disparities: Adults with lower levels of education or from disadvantaged backgrounds are falling further behind.
- Immigrant-native gaps: Foreign-born adults consistently score lower than native-born adults, particularly in Finland, Germany, and the Netherlands.
- Regional inequalities: In countries like Italy, Poland, and Spain, regional disparities in education systems contribute to uneven skill levels.
- Age-Related Declines:
- Older adults are more likely to see a decline in proficiency over time, particularly in countries like Korea and Lithuania. However, even younger generations in some countries, such as New Zealand and Poland, are performing worse than before.
- Mismatch of Skills and Jobs:
- Across OECD countries, about one-third of workers are mismatched in terms of skills or qualifications required for their jobs. This mismatch results in lower productivity, underemployment, and dissatisfaction.
- Gender Gaps:
- While women outperform men in literacy, they lag behind in numeracy and adaptive problem-solving, limiting their access to higher-paying STEM-related careers.
- Low Participation in Lifelong Learning:
- Opportunities for upskilling and reskilling remain uneven, especially for low-skilled workers and marginalized groups.
Recommendations for Improvement
- Enhance Lifelong Learning Opportunities:
- Offer accessible, flexible, and modular learning programs that allow adults to upskill or reskill throughout their lives.
- Expand online and hybrid learning options to reach more people, especially those in remote or underserved areas.
- Address Inequalities:
- Implement targeted policies to reduce socio-economic gaps by investing in education and training for disadvantaged groups.
- Provide specialized programs for immigrants to improve language skills and ease integration into the labor market.
- Focus on Early Education:
- Strengthen foundational literacy and numeracy education for young people to prevent skill gaps from widening in the future.
- Modernize curricula to include digital skills, critical thinking, and problem-solving.
- Boost Women’s Participation in STEM:
- Create initiatives to encourage girls and women to pursue STEM education and careers, addressing gender stereotypes and workplace barriers.
- Reduce Skill Mismatches:
- Improve job-matching systems to align workers’ skills with job requirements.
- Work with employers to identify and address skill shortages through targeted training programs.
- Incentivize Adult Learning:
- Provide financial incentives such as tax breaks, subsidies, or stipends to encourage participation in lifelong learning programs.
- Partner with employers to share the cost of training and ensure its relevance to the labor market.
- Leverage Technology:
- Use artificial intelligence and data analytics to personalize learning pathways and make training more effective.
- Promote the use of technology in classrooms and workplaces to bridge digital divides.
- Collaborate Across Sectors:
- Governments, employers, and educational institutions must work together to design and deliver training programs that address current and future skill needs.
The Path Ahead
Countries must act urgently to address these challenges, as foundational skills are critical for economic resilience, social cohesion, and individual well-being. Investing in education and training systems that prioritize inclusion, adaptability, and innovation will enable nations to build a workforce ready to thrive in an ever-changing world. The stakes are high, but with bold and collaborative action, these challenges can be transformed into opportunities for growth and progress.