Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) 2012

Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is an international survey initiated by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. The project started in 2008, and the survey has now been carried out in 24 countries. Approximately 5000 respondents aged between 16 and 65 years participated in the Norwegian survey. The data collection period in Norway was between August 2011 and April 2012. The goal of PIAAC is to measure the adult population’s proficiency in three domains: literacy, numeracy and problem solving in a technology-rich environment. These three domains are considered key information processing skills. PIAAC is one among several international assessments of skills, and results from this survey are comparable to results from the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) from 1994-1998 and Adult Literacy and Life Skills (ALL) from 2003-2007. Results from the Norwegian PIAAC can also be compared with results from other countries. Throughout the implementation of PIAAC, a number of measures have been taken to ensure comparability across countries.