OECD Skills Outlook 2021

Reader’s guide

Country coverage

This publication features data on all OECD countries as well as, when available, comparable data from other countries.

The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law.

Names used for territorial entities

Data for the Survey of Adult Skills, a product of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adults (PIAAC) for Belgium and the United Kingdom refer to Flanders and England and Northern Ireland respectively.

Data for the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 for B-S-J-Z (China) refer to the four regions in China that participated in PISA 2018: Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Data for PISA 2018 for Hong Kong (China), the Netherlands, Portugal and the United States did not meet the PISA technical standards but were accepted as largely comparable in PISA.

Rounding figures

Because of rounding, some figures in tables may not add up exactly to the totals. Totals, differences and averages are always calculated on the basis of exact numbers and are rounded only after calculation.

All standard errors in this publication have been rounded to one or two decimal places. Where the value 0.0 or 0.00 is shown, this does not imply that the standard error is zero, but that it is smaller than 0.05 or 0.005, respectively.

Calculation of international means

This edition of the OECD Skills Outlook aims to provide an authoritative compilation of key international comparisons on lifelong learning. While overall values are given for countries in these comparisons, readers should not assume that countries themselves are homogeneous. The country averages include significant variations among subnational jurisdictions, much as the OECD average encompasses a variety of national experiences.

The OECD average is calculated as the unweighted mean of the data values of all OECD countries for which data are available or can be estimated. The OECD average therefore refers to an average of data values at the level of the national systems and can be used to answer the question of how an indicator value for a given country compares with the value for a typical or average country. It does not take into account the absolute population size of a country.

The EU average is also presented. It is calculated as the unweighted mean of the data values of countries that are members of the European Union for which data are available or can be estimated. The EU average therefore refers to an average of data values at the level of the national systems and can be used to answer the question of how an indicator value for a given country compares with the value for a typical or average country. It does not take into account the absolute population size of a country.

Standard error (S.E.)

The statistical estimates presented in this report are based on samples of children and/or adults, rather than values that could be calculated if every person in the target population in every country had answered every question. Therefore, each estimate has a degree of uncertainty associated with sampling and measurement error, which can be expressed as a standard error. Standard errors used to infer the degree of uncertainty in point estimates and identify the level of confidence with which estimates from different countries or groups within countries are expected to differ.

Reporting student data from PISA

The report uses “15-year-olds” as shorthand for the PISA target population. PISA covers students who are aged between 15 years 3 months and 16 years 2 months at the time of assessment and who are enrolled in school and have completed at least 6 years of formal schooling, regardless of the type of institution in which they are enrolled, and whether they are in full-time or part-time education, whether they attend academic or vocational programmes, and whether they attend public or private schools or foreign schools within the country.

Note regarding Cyprus

Note by Turkey

The information in this document with reference to “Cyprus” relates to the southern part of the Island. There is no single authority representing both Turkish and Greek Cypriot people on the Island. Turkey recognises the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Until a lasting and equitable solution is found within the context of the United Nations, Turkey shall preserve its position concerning the “Cyprus issue”.

Note by all the European Union Member States of the OECD and the European Union

The Republic of Cyprus is recognised by all members of the United Nations with the exception of Turkey. The information in this document relates to the area under the effective control of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus.

Note regarding the Russian Federation

The sample for the Russian Federation in PIAAC does not include the population of the Moscow municipal area. The data published, therefore, do not represent the entire resident population aged 16-65 in the Russian Federation but rather the population of the Russian Federation excluding the population residing in the Moscow municipal area. More detailed information regarding the data from the Russian Federation in PIAAC can be found in the Technical Report of the Survey of Adult Skills, Third Edition (OECD, 2019[1]).

Note regarding Greece

The data for Greece in PIAAC include a large number of cases (1 032) in which there are responses to the background questionnaire but where responses to the assessment are missing. Proficiency scores have been estimated for these respondents based on their responses to the background questionnaire and the population model used to estimate plausible values for responses missing by design derived from the remaining 3 893 cases. More details can be found in the Technical Report of the Survey of Adult Skills, Third Edition (OECD, 2019[1]).

Reference

[1] OECD (2019), Technical Report of the Survey of Adult Skills, Third Edition, https://www.oecd.org/skills/piaac/publications/PIAAC_Technical_Report_2019.pdf.