A study has revealed the level of reading, numeracy and problem-solving skills of people in OECD countries, including France. The results are astonishing.
Reading, calculation and problem solving are the basis of schooling. They then become essential in active life. Yet many adults around the world have not developed these basic skills, as a study by the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (Piaac), conducted in the OECD and published on December 10, 2024.
Skills in literacy (ability to read and understand information), numeracy (ability to use mathematical concepts) and problem solving, which are considered “essential for the development of individuals, economies and societies”, were assessed in 2023 among 160,000 adults in 31 countries. In France, 6,432 people were interviewed, a sample “constituted in such a way as to be representative of the approximately 39.8 million people aged 16 to 65 residing in the country”, indicates the OECD.
Result: on average, 18% of adults in the OECD, countries considered rich, do not master the most basic skills. The French are not good students in this ranking and are even below the OECD average in the three areas evaluated. More than one in four adults in France even have “poor mastery of skills”.
For reading, for example, France only obtains a score of 255 (compared to 296 for Finland in first position). Above all, more than a quarter of French adults (28%), or 18 million people, do not exceed level 1. A basic level which corresponds to people who can, at best, only “understand short sentences and simple. As the raises The Economistthis level can be compared to that of the end of primary school, when children are between 10 and 11 years old. Only 9% of French people have reached levels 4 and 5, the two highest stages.
For mathematics, France obtains 257 points, but the findings are just as alarming. 28% of adults surveyed are at level 1 or below, in other words are only able to “add and subtract small numbers”. For levels 4 and 5, on the other hand, there are only 12% of “high-performing” French people, capable of analyzing and understanding complex statistics or graphs.
Finally, for problem solving, it’s even worse. With 248 points, France has more than 30% of adults not exceeding level 1. A level of “simple problems to solve (in a few steps) with a limited number of elements and little or no information irrelevant.”
Across the OECD, The Economist estimates that “around a fifth of people aged 16 to 65 do not perform better on maths and reading tests than would be expected of a student reaching the end of primary school.” For France, we are rather between a quarter and a third of the population. Of course, it would be simplistic to equate these abilities with overall intelligence, but the number of adults without robust intellectual skills that are useful in daily life is confusing. And worry.