According to the latest PISA report, Spanish students are 12 points below the OECD average in financial literacy. This gap has widened from eight points four years ago and indicates a deterioration in students’ basic financial literacy.

Just six months after a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) painted a devastating picture of financial literacy in Europe, with only 34% of European adults having minimal financial literacy skills, the latest PISA report released on Thursday shows that many teenagers also lack some of the skills, attitudes and knowledge needed to make basic economic decisions.

The PISA financial literacy assessment focuses on finding out what students know how to do through a questionnaire divided into four blocks: money and transactions, planning and managing finances, risk and return, and financial outlook. This provides a specific picture of students’ familiarity with different economic concepts.

In the case of Spain, the financial literacy of more than 2,000 15-year-old students from a total of 206 schools was assessed, and the results were worse than in the previous report, placing Spanish students 12 points below the OECD average (486 points compared to an average of 498). This is a worsening compared to the eight points recorded in 2018, which places Spain in 12th place out of the 20 countries analysed.

Only 25% of students have a high level of financial competence, compared to 58% with an average level, while 17% do not achieve a basic level of knowledge. This translates into the fact that only 27% of Spanish students can understand a sales contract, compared to 34% of the OECD average. Likewise, while 95% of Spanish students can identify an invoice, 42% are not able to make basic interpretations of it, nor a payslip, nor to perform simple numerical operations such as calculating percentages.

11Onze’s financial education plan

Empowering citizens through financial education has been at the heart of 11Onze since its inception. Expanding our community’s knowledge of economics and finance, making all the necessary tools available to them, is one of the founding pillars of the first community fintech in Catalonia.

Since the launch of 11Onze Escola, a project that offers training sessions on the world of fintech so that schools, businesses and professional associations throughout the country can teach their students the basics of economics and financial matters, we have a unique platform that complements the school curriculum by educating young people in monetary matters and provides them with tools for the creation of wealth.

With the same purpose of training our community, we promote the lessons in the Learning section, which offers content such as the series El Diner, the Formacions 11Onze made by the employees themselves or our short Courses. In addition, in the Descobreix section of 11Onze TV you will also find pieces by our agents on topics of interest for our day-to-day work. Because from the very beginning it was clear to us that without a good financial education, we will hardly be a free society that can decide its future.

11Onze is the community fintech of Catalonia. Open an account by downloading the super app El Canut for Android or iOS and join the revolution!