Dutch adults perform well on literacy and numeracy skills - Dutch results from the international adult skills survey

Dutch adults perform well in literacy, numeracy and problem-solving. According to Dutch results from the international adult skills survey, the Netherlands ranks fourth out of 31 countries for language proficiency (shared), third for numeracy and fifth for problem-solving. The Netherlands also has in international comparison relatively low percentages of adults performing at the lowest literacy or numeracy levels. 

PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competenties) is the largest international survey on adult skills, led by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It assesses the literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving skills of adults aged 16-65 across 31 countries. These key information-processing skills are essential for understanding, analyzing, and applying information encountered in daily life and at work. The findings from the Dutch PIAAC survey were analyzed by the Kohnstamm Institute in collaboration with ROA. 

Average numeracy skills have increased significantly from ten years ago. Average literacy scores have decreased slightly, but that difference is not significant. 15,9% of 16-65-year-olds are low-literate: they have difficulty reading longer texts or comparing different types of information. In addition, 15,5% have low numeracy skills. This is lower than the OECD average. The overlap between the two groups is large: eight out of ten people with low literacy skills also have low numeracy skills. When converted to absolute numbers, this concerns approximately 2.2 million adults between the ages of 16 and 65 with low levels of literacy and/or numeracy skills.

Key information-processing skills correlate with various economic and social outcomes. In addition, further analyses demonstrate how these key information-processing skills are related to changes in the workplace, what the influence is of social background, and the skill performance of older adults (age 66-75). 

Read the full report at: www.piaaconderzoek.nl