New PISA ranking

Finance: Austria’s youth competent, but …

Many young Austrians know what to do with terms such as share or dividend.

(Bild: Getty Images/SPENCER PLATT)

The financial literacy of Austrian young people is above average compared to 15-year-olds in other OECD countries. This is shown by the results of the "Financial Literacy" part of the PISA 2022 study published on Thursday. However, there is still some catching up to do.

Austria took part in this part of the international comparative study for the first time. A total of 20 countries took part this time, including eleven EU countries.

The study aims to determine whether young people have the necessary knowledge and skills to make informed financial decisions. In seven of the 20 countries, young people scored higher in financial literacy than the OECD average of 498 points.

Belgium at the top
The best results were achieved by Belgium (Flemish Community, 527), Denmark (521), Canada (eight provinces, 519) and the Netherlands (517). They were followed by Austria's 15-year-olds with 506 points (6th place), which statistically puts them on a par with their peers in the Czech Republic, Poland and the USA.

A similar number of young people as the average for the other countries scored particularly well or particularly poorly in the survey: 13% in Austria achieved top results in financial literacy (OECD average: 11). This group can, for example, describe the consequences of financial decisions and analyze financial products.

17 percent have particularly poor knowledge (OECD average: 18) and can only make simple decisions about their daily spending, but are unable to weigh up value for money or understand the relationship between the level of consumption and the costs incurred. The order of magnitude corresponds roughly to the proportion of particularly weak pupils in the German or mathematics section of the PISA test.

Family influences
Family background also has a particularly strong influence on financial knowledge in Austria: the difference in performance between pupils with wealthy, highly educated parents and socio-economically disadvantaged young people is around 100 points. This is significantly higher than the OECD average (87).

At 63 points, a migrant background results in a performance gap in Austria that is twice as large as the average of the countries compared, while the performance gap of pupils with a different everyday language is the largest of all the countries surveyed at 72 points. A good portion of this can be attributed to social differences.

The gender differences are comparatively small: Boys scored an average of 8 points higher than girls, and they also achieved top results more often (16 versus eleven percent). On average across the countries, boys scored five points higher, with girls performing even better in eight of the 20 participating countries.

Dealing with money as a school subject
In the accompanying questionnaire, six out of ten of the approximately 1,600 test participants from Austria stated that they learn how to handle money at school. Two thirds reported that their lessons included analyzing advertising, discussing the difference between spending on needs or wants and planning expenditure.

When asked about 16 financial terms, young people in Austria knew the meaning of eight of them. Only in the Netherlands were there more, namely nine. Terms such as salary, budget, diversification and dividend had to be explained.

Achievement gap to be narrowed
Despite the above-average results, Education Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) identified "very clear potential for improvement in selected areas". For this reason, the new curricula will place a special focus on economic and financial education, which will also be a cross-curricular topic in lessons.

Doris Wagner, Head of the Section for General Education and Vocational Training, emphasized during a background discussion that more should be done for weaker young people between the ages of 10 and 14. Especially for pupils from homes with little education and money, the aim is to lay a good foundation for their financial knowledge by deepening their understanding of basic concepts.

NEOS want fair opportunities
NEOS and the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV) are also calling for more attention to be paid to socially disadvantaged groups. The next government must pay particular attention to fair opportunities for all children and young people, demanded education spokesperson Martina Künsberg Sarre. It must also integrate economic and financial education and entrepreneurship much more strongly into lessons and train teachers accordingly.

For the IV, economic and financial education as part of basic education "urgently needs to be strengthened", appealed General Secretary Christoph Neumayer. The Aktienforum, which represents the interests of domestic listed companies, called for a revision of teaching materials and better training opportunities for teachers. Surveys have shown that young people are very interested in the topic. Politics is lagging behind here.