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Adults with weak literacy
Share of adults at PIAAC literacy Level 1 or below — they can read short, simple texts but little more. 31 countries and economies only — PIAAC has no US state figures, so this measure doesn't appear in state comparisons. The UK row is England and the Belgium row is Flanders, the areas PIAAC surveyed. Each year shown is that survey round's published headline, so the change between 2012 and 2023 runs slightly larger than the OECD's own like-for-like comparison.
Darker = better (lower), by rank · 31 countries · OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) · tap a country to pin it here
Countries
31 · OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC)- 1stJapan10.4
- 2ndSweden12
- 3rdFinland12.4
- 4thNorway14.9
- 5thNetherlands15.9
- 6thUnited Kingdom17.6
- 7thDenmark17.9
- 8thBelgium18.8
- 9thCanada19.3
- 10thEstonia20
- 11thIreland21.1
- 12thSwitzerland22.3
- 13thGermany22.5
- 14thSlovakia23.7
- 15thCzechia24.8
- 16thNew Zealand25.5
- 17thCroatia27.6
- 18thUnited States27.6
- 19thFrance27.9
- 20thAustria29
- 21stSingapore29.7
- 22ndSouth Korea30.8
- 23rdSpain31.2
- 24thHungary32.5
- 25thLatvia33.6
- 26thItaly34.7
- 27thIsrael36.2
- 28thLithuania37.8
- 29thPoland39.5
- 30thPortugal42.4
- 31stChile53.4
31 countries ranked.
Top 10 countries with the fewest adults with weak literacy →Keep exploring
More on education
- Years in educationExpected years of schooling for a child entering school today.
- Pupil performanceStandardized test performance (PISA countries, NAEP states, linked scale).
- Adult literacyHow well working-age adults read and use written information.
- Adult numeracyHow well working-age adults handle numbers and mathematical ideas.
- Adults with weak numeracyShare of adults at PIAAC numeracy Level 1 or below — they manage single-step arithmetic but little more.
- Nobel laureatesNobel laureates by place of birth, per million current residents.
Who leads the world
- Monacotops life expectancy86.5 years
- Singaporetops homicide rate0.1 per 100k
- Bulgariatops paid maternity leave59 weeks
Japan leads on adults with weak literacy — see where it lands on every other measure, and which US state it most resembles.
All 68 measures →Every country ranked →Every US state →All the Top 10s →The overall board →How we read the data →