Australia beats global average for financial literacy

In a statement yesterday, ASIC announced that Australia ranked equal fifth for the financial literacy of young people in an international study of 15 countries.

This week the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released a report analysing the results of the 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) financial literacy test.

In the test, Australian students achieved an aggregate score of 504, which was higher than the OECD average of 489.

Meanwhile, 15 per cent of Australian students were high performers (above the OECD average of 12 percent).

However, 20 per cent of Australian students were low performers and the mean financial literacy score for Indigenous students was 411 points – significantly lower than the OECD average (489 points) and also significantly lower than non-Indigenous Australian students (508 points).

ASIC deputy chair Peter Kell said that while the nation scored above average, “there is more to be done in Australia to build financial literacy and capability at all levels of education”.

Australian female students (with a mean score of 510 points) performed significantly higher than Australian male students (with a mean score of 498 points), the results showed.