Global Decline in Adult Skills: OECD Survey Results

Basic skills are quietly eroding across the rich world. In this episode, we unpack alarming findings from the OECD showing that large numbers of adults in wealthy nations now read, count, and reason at levels no higher than a primary school student. While countries like Finland and Japan still perform well, others—including the United States—are slipping, widening the gap between the highly skilled and everyone else. Aging populations and migration play a role, but researchers suspect something deeper: fewer people practicing sustained reading and complex thinking at all. Because these skills shape wages, health, and even happiness, the decline raises an uncomfortable question—what happens to a society that slowly forgets how to think well?https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2024/12/10/are-adults-forgetting-how-to-read