17% of Spanish students do not have minimum financial knowledge

Spain is lagging behind in financial education. 15-year-old students obtain 486 points in the financial knowledge tests carried out within the OECD PISA report, a figure similar to previous editions (484 points in 2012, 469 points in 2015, 492 in 2018) and which is 12 points below the OECD average.

Of the 20 countries analysed thus far, Spain is in 12th place, 41 points behind Belgium, which tops the table, and 80 points behind Malaysia, which closes it. In Spain’s point environment are Norway and Hungary just above, or Italy and the United Arab Emirates just below.

Spain stands at the extreme end of the spectrum. At the bottom are more students who hardly have any financial knowledge (17% do not reach the basic level, according to the organization), a group that “in the best of cases can identify common financial products and terms, recognize the difference between needs and wants, and make simple decisions about everyday expenses in the contexts in which they are likely to find themselves,” as described by the OECD.

On the other hand, only 5% of students reach the highest level of financial competence, which is less than half the average of the rest of the countries (11%). With this level, “students can analyze financial products, solve non-routine financial problems and show an understanding of the financial landscape,” the note published by the OECD explains.

The organization pointed out that performance in financial skills is directly related to performance in math and reading. “In Spain, approximately 76% of the variation in students’ performance in financial knowledge can be explained by performance in math and reading (compared to an 80% average across OECD countries), while 24% of the variation in scores is due to other factors, including unique aspects of financial literacy.”

When the results are divided, it is seen that boys and girls perform equally, with boys having a slight advantage (five points). Students with the best socio-economic status obtain 73 points higher than their most humble classmates, which is lower than the OECD average (87 points), indicating – as is common in these tests – that Spain is a more equitable country with fewer differences. Overall, says the OECD, 10% of the differences in performance between some and others are explained by socioeconomic origin.

In this regard, special mention is also made of immigrants who score 30 points lower in financial ability. According to the OECD, practically the entire gap between natives and immigrants is explained by socio-economic status.