Literacy, numeracy and adaptive problem-solving skills of Canadians: Results from the 2022 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies
Released: 2024-12-10
The literacy, numeracy and adaptive problem-solving skills of Canadians aged 16 to 65 were above the average of the 27 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries participating in the 2022 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC).
These three foundational skills enable individuals to engage and function effectively across a broad spectrum of everyday situations, to achieve personal goals, navigate mathematical challenges, define problems and seek relevant information. These skills also support individuals' capacity to adapt, and manage change and uncertainty.
In Canada, Cycle 2 of PIAAC was collected in 2022 and 2023, 11 years after Cycle 1 (2012). The survey assesses information-processing skills of working-age adults, defined in PIAAC as individuals aged 16 to 65 at the time of data collection, across all participating OECD countries.
The new PIAAC data allow for comparisons of how Canadians' skills have evolved over the last decade and how they measure up internationally. When looking at the comparable population in both cycles, results show that the average numeracy score increased slightly in Canada since 2012, while the literacy score was stable. Adaptive problem-solving skills were not measured in 2012.
In all three skill domains, Canada scores above the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average
The 2022 PIAAC assessed adults aged 16 to 65 over a continuum of abilities in literacy, numeracy and adaptive problem solving using a measurement scale ranging from 0 to 500. Canada's average score in literacy (271), numeracy (271) and adaptive problem solving (259) was above the OECD averages of 259, 262 and 250, respectively.
Among the 27 participating OECD countries, Canada ranked in the top 10 in all three skill domains of the 2022 PIAAC. Countries' scores ranged from 218 to 296 in literacy, from 214 to 294 in numeracy and from 218 to 276 in adaptive problem solving. In all domains, Finland and Japan were consistently the top two countries.
Infographic 1
Average literacy, numeracy and adaptive problem-solving scores of the population aged 16 to 65, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, Canada and provinces, 2022
In seven Canadian provinces, scores in all three domains are higher than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average
When comparing the 10 provinces with the 27 participating OECD countries, 7 provinces scored above the OECD average in all domains, while all provinces scored above the OECD average in literacy. British Columbia's scores were one of the highest in the three skill domains. Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island scored above the OECD average in two domains (adaptive problem solving and literacy), while New Brunswick was above average in literacy but at the OECD average in numeracy and adaptive problem solving.
Within Canada, the average scores for literacy, numeracy and adaptive problem solving varied across provinces. British Columbia consistently scored above the Canadian average in literacy (281), numeracy (280) and adaptive problem solving (269). Alberta scored above the Canadian average in literacy (276) and adaptive problem solving (264). Provincial differences may be the result of multiple factors, including demographic compositions.
Lower proportions of Canadians aged 16 to 65 score at the two lowest levels of the proficiency scales
When compared with the 27 OECD countries participating in the 2022 PIAAC, Canada ranked in the top 10 for the proportion of adults with high literacy scores, or those at levels 4 and 5 (276 and over), with 14% of the population at these levels, compared with 11% among participating OECD countries. Individuals at the highest proficiency levels of literacy can integrate information across multiple dense texts and reason by inference.
Infographic 2
Percentage of adults aged 16 to 65 scoring at each literacy proficiency level, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries and Canada (excluding territories), 2022
On the other end, Canada had one of the smallest proportions of the population aged 16 to 65 in the two lowest literacy levels, achieving a score below 226 (19% compared with 27% among participating OECD countries). Individuals with a literacy level of 1 can read brief texts on familiar topics to locate a single piece of specific information. Most adults below level 1 can only understand short, simple sentences.
Higher education is generally tied to higher levels of performance in all three domains
Skill development is a lifelong process, where abilities acquired in earlier stages influence the learning experiences in subsequent stages of life. While skills can be gained through formal and non-formal education and training, formal education is key for foundational skill development.
Higher education is generally tied to higher scores in all domains. For instance, the average literacy score for Canadians aged 25 to 65 with a bachelor's degree or higher was 293, compared with 275 for those with postsecondary education below a bachelor's degree and 246 for those with a high school diploma or less.
Chart 1
Literacy proficiency levels of the population aged 25 to 65, by highest level of education, Canada (excluding territories), 2022
However, although higher education is linked to better skill performance, some individuals with high education still achieved low proficiency, while others with low education performed well (Chart 1). For example, 10% of adults aged 25 to 65 with a bachelor's degree or higher scored at the lowest proficiency levels in literacy, and 6% of adults aged 25 to 65 with a high school education or less scored at the highest proficiency levels. These same patterns were found in numeracy and adaptive problem solving, demonstrating how other factors, such as age and language, can affect skill levels.
Adults aged 25 to 34 hold the highest scores in all three domains, while those aged 55 to 65 have the lowest scores
Numerous factors influence how skills are maintained, acquired, or even lost over the course of a person's life.
Among Canadian adults, those aged 25 to 34 held the highest scores in all domains in the 2022 PIAAC. On the other hand, the oldest age group in the survey (55 to 65 years) had the lowest scores across all domains. These trends are consistent with Cycle 1 of PIAAC in literacy and numeracy and consistent with what has been observed in many participating OECD countries.
Chart 2
Average literacy, numeracy and adaptive problem-solving scores of the population aged 16 to 65, by age group, Canada (excluding territories), 2022
In general, among Canadian adults, men scored higher in numeracy in the 2022 PIAAC, and men and women displayed similar scores in the literacy and adaptive problem-solving domains. Exceptions were found in those aged 35 to 44, where men scored higher in adaptive problem solving and literacy, and in those aged 55 to 65, where women scored higher in literacy and performed similarly to men in numeracy.
Skill gap between the Canadian-born and the immigrant adult population is smaller in numeracy than in literacy and adaptive problem solving
As in most countries that participated in both cycles of PIAAC (2012 and 2022), Canada saw an increase in the share of its immigrant population during this period. In 2021, the number of immigrants admitted in the previous five years was the highest recorded in any Canadian census, and almost one-quarter of the population was a landed immigrant or a permanent resident in Canada.
In the 2022 PIAAC, Canadian-born adults had higher average scores than immigrants in the three skill domains—regardless of whether they were compared with recent immigrants or with those who had been in Canada for more than 10 years. This may be related to the fact that in Canada, PIAAC was administered in English or French, and performance in the assessment can be influenced by language proficiency in either of these two languages.
Overall, when examining the three skill domains in the 2022 PIAAC, the gap between Canadian-born adults and immigrants aged 16 to 65 was smaller for numeracy than for literacy and adaptive problem solving.
Chart 3
Average literacy, numeracy and adaptive problem-solving scores of the population aged 16 to 65, Canadian-born individuals, and recent and established immigrants, Canada (excluding territories), 2022
There was no significant difference between the numeracy scores of recent and established immigrants. However, established immigrants displayed higher scores in literacy and adaptive problem solving compared with recent immigrants.
Factors such as the number of years spent living in Canada and the language most often spoken at home may also influence the skills proficiency of the immigrant population. Scores for established immigrants and Canadian-born adults who did the test in the same language as the one spoken most often at home were not significantly different in the three domains. For recent immigrants, this was the case for numeracy only.
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Note to readers
The 2022 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) survey of literacy, numeracy, and adaptive problem solving is based on conceptual frameworks that define what these skills are and describe how to design assessment items to measure them. The assessment tasks reflect how these skills are applied across a wide range of situations in adults' lives.
Literacy: Accessing, understanding, evaluating and reflecting on written texts to achieve one's goals, develop one's knowledge and potential, and participate in society.
Numeracy: Accessing, using and reasoning critically with mathematical content, information and ideas represented in multiple ways to engage in and manage the mathematical demands of a range of situations in adult life.
Adaptive problem solving: The capacity to achieve one's goals in a dynamic situation, in which a method for solution is not immediately available. It requires engaging in cognitive and metacognitive processes to define the problem, search for information, and apply a solution in a variety of information environments and contexts.
Immigrant: A person who is or has been a landed immigrant or permanent resident and has been granted the right to live in Canada permanently by immigration authorities. Immigrants who obtained Canadian citizenship by naturalization are included in this group.
Recent immigrant: A landed immigrant who arrived in Canada 10 years ago or less.
Established immigrant: A landed immigrant who arrived in Canada more than 10 years ago.
In this article, the year of arrival is used to identify recent and established immigrants, while the year of immigration is normally used in the census. The year of arrival is the year the person first arrived in Canada to live, while the year of immigration is the year the immigrant first obtained landed immigrant or permanent resident status.
Gender: Given that the non-binary population is small, data aggregation to a two-category gender variable is sometimes necessary to protect the confidentiality of responses. In these cases, individuals in the category "non-binary persons" are distributed into the other two gender categories. Unless otherwise indicated in the text, the category "men" includes men, as well as some non-binary persons, while the category "women" includes women, as well as some non-binary persons.
Geography: Across the 31 countries and economies that participated in the 2022 PIAAC, this report focuses only on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. Cycle 2 data exclude the territories.
Comparison with Cycle 1: Literacy and numeracy were assessed in cycles 1 and 2 of PIAAC, and adaptive problem solving was measured only in Cycle 2. In Canada, when comparing Cycle 2 and Cycle 1, it is important to note that the scores in Cycle 1 exclude data from the territories, which were not collected in Cycle 2, and cases done through a doorstep interview.
Doorstep interview: To minimize literacy-related non-response in Cycle 2, a doorstep interview was introduced as a quick alternative to the comprehensive background questionnaire. The doorstep interview is a short, self-administered questionnaire offered in all the languages of the countries and economies that participate in the survey, as well as the languages spoken by the most common linguistic minorities in the countries.
Products
An international public use microdata file, which includes data for all participating countries in the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, including the Canadian file, is available on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD website. For a complete list of public use microdata files on literacy, consult Adult Literacy and Life Skills Surveys: Public Use Microdata Files.
The international report published by the OECD is also available on the OECD website.
Contact information
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