The Literacy assessment covers a range of different types of texts, contexts, and cognitive strategies to reflect the challenges adults face in modern societies. The results of the assessment are reported in six proficiency levels (below Level 1 to Level 5), with detailed descriptions of the types of tasks that adults at different levels can perform successfully.
Adult literacy skills
The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) defines literacy as the ability to understand, evaluate, use and engage with written texts to participate in society and achieve one's goals. Through the Survey of Adult Skills, PIAAC assesses and describes the literacy skills of adults aged 16-65.
Key messages
Strong literacy skills help adults achieve their objectives and fully participate in modern societies. Adults with higher literacy levels are more likely to be employed and earn higher wages. Moreover, they are more likely to report good or excellent levels of health, to be engaged in volunteering activities and to have higher levels of political efficacy and trust.
On average, across OECD countries that participated in PIAAC Cycle 2, 26 percent of adults have low levels of literacy skills (meaning they score at Level 1 or below on the PIAAC literacy scale). The share of adults with low literacy proficiency ranges from 10 percent in Japan to 53 percent in Chile. Adults at Level 1 on the literacy scale can only understand short texts and organised lists when information is clearly indicated, find specific information and identify relevant links. Those below Level 1 can, at best, only understand short, simple sentences. On average, across OECD countries that participated in PIAAC Cycle 2, only 12 percent score at Levels 4 or 5, the highest proficiency levels of literacy. In Finland, 35 percent of adults score at the highest literacy levels. At least 20 percent perform at these levels in Japan, Norway and Sweden. Adults at Levels 4 or 5 are top performers. They can comprehend and evaluate long, dense texts across several pages, grasp complex or hidden meanings, and use prior knowledge to understand texts and complete tasks.
Context
Literacy proficiency has mostly declined or stagnated in the past decade
Over the past decade, adults’ proficiency in literacy has remained stable or declined in most of the countries that participated in both the first and the second cycle of the Survey of Adult Skills. Only in Finland and Denmark adults recorded significant. Declines in literacy proficiency have been mostly due to falls among the lowest-performing adults. As a result, skills inequalities within countries have widened.
Literacy skills tend to decline with age
Young adults around age 30 tend to have higher literacy skills than older adults. This reflects both cognitive declines related to ageing but also differences across cohorts in levels of educational attainment.
