One of nine capability dimensions
Learning
How effectively does the country acquire, distribute, and update knowledge?
This page puts the country comparison, indicator registry and documented cases together. It shows how much of the capability the current data can see.
52 countries in the frame7 indicators in the registry5 indicators with data52 countries with a score
<iframe src="https://ncb-envisioning.vercel.app/embed/compare/BRA/learning" title="Learning country comparison" loading="lazy" width="100%" height="300" style="border:0" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin"></iframe>All countries use the same frame
The table opens alphabetically. Sort by score, confidence, coverage or trend. Scores need two observed indicators; trends use indicators observed at both ends.
Scores use one 0 to 100 scale for all countries. Each dot is a country. The box covers the middle half of the field, and the line is the median. Hollow dots have thin evidence.
| Argentina | 54.9 | 0.41 | 5 of 7 | +6.6(2) |
| Australia | 70.3 | 0.54 | 5 of 7 | no trend |
| Bolivia | 79.5 | 0.34 | 3 of 7 | -1.9(2) |
| Brazil | 43.2 | 0.54 | 5 of 7 | +5.5(2) |
| Canada | 56.6 | 0.53 | 5 of 7 | +3.5(2) |
| Chile | 53.5 | 0.54 | 5 of 7 | +7.3(2) |
| China | 59.1 | 0.56 | 5 of 7 | +13.0(2) |
| Colombia | 44.3 | 0.49 | 5 of 7 | +13.5(2) |
| Costa Rica | 48.5 | 0.50 | 5 of 7 | -2.0(2) |
| Cuba | 59.3 | 0.33 | 3 of 7 | +3.8(2) |
| Dominican Republic | 36.8 | 0.56 | 5 of 7 | +8.2(3) |
| Ecuador | 47.0 | 0.55 | 5 of 7 | +6.3(2) |
| El Salvador | 33.5 | 0.55 | 5 of 7 | -8.6(3) |
| Estonia | 56.8 | 0.53 | 5 of 7 | +0.7(3) |
| Ethiopia | 9.5 | 0.42 | 5 of 7 | -24.8(2) |
| Finland | 77.9 | 0.54 | 5 of 7 | +6.7(2) |
| France | 60.9 | 0.54 | 5 of 7 | no trend |
| Germany | 56.2 | 0.54 | 5 of 7 | +7.1(2) |
| Guatemala | 42.0 | 0.56 | 5 of 7 | +3.4(2) |
| Haiti | 12.3 | 0.21 | 2 of 7 | no trend |
| Honduras | 40.8 | 0.47 | 5 of 7 | -8.4(2) |
| India | 20.2 | 0.55 | 5 of 7 | -12.8(3) |
| Indonesia | 24.3 | 0.53 | 5 of 7 | +3.8(3) |
| Ireland | 60.5 | 0.51 | 5 of 7 | -4.7(2) |
| Israel | 44.7 | 0.54 | 5 of 7 | -6.7(3) |
| Japan | 47.2 | 0.52 | 5 of 7 | +2.1(2) |
| Kenya | 26.0 | 0.51 | 5 of 7 | -6.0(3) |
| Malaysia | 35.9 | 0.56 | 5 of 7 | +0.8(3) |
| Mexico | 44.8 | 0.53 | 5 of 7 | +0.3(2) |
| Netherlands | 65.3 | 0.53 | 5 of 7 | +1.9(2) |
| Nicaragua | 31.3 | 0.40 | 5 of 7 | +8.6(2) |
| Nigeria | 11.6 | 0.38 | 5 of 7 | +3.2(2) |
| Panama | 28.2 | 0.53 | 5 of 7 | -2.7(2) |
| Paraguay | 34.2 | 0.41 | 5 of 7 | -2.6(2) |
| Peru | 47.7 | 0.49 | 5 of 7 | +13.0(2) |
| Philippines | 36.2 | 0.55 | 5 of 7 | -2.1(3) |
| Poland | 52.4 | 0.54 | 5 of 7 | -4.3(3) |
| Rwanda | 22.4 | 0.56 | 5 of 7 | -6.8(3) |
| Singapore | 56.0 | 0.49 | 5 of 7 | +1.6(2) |
| South Africa | 23.4 | 0.51 | 5 of 7 | +5.7(2) |
| South Korea | 55.9 | 0.54 | 5 of 7 | +16.5(2) |
| Spain | 65.6 | 0.54 | 5 of 7 | +4.3(2) |
| Sweden | 67.4 | 0.54 | 5 of 7 | -5.6(3) |
| Switzerland | 65.1 | 0.54 | 5 of 7 | +5.1(2) |
| Thailand | 32.9 | 0.56 | 5 of 7 | -1.4(3) |
| Turkey | 47.2 | 0.53 | 5 of 7 | -11.8(3) |
| United Arab Emirates | 40.3 | 0.38 | 4 of 7 | no trend |
| United Kingdom | 68.4 | 0.52 | 5 of 7 | +13.5(2) |
| United States | 49.5 | 0.45 | 5 of 7 | -0.5(2) |
| Uruguay | 49.3 | 0.54 | 5 of 7 | +12.0(2) |
| Venezuela | 56.8 | 0.10 | 4 of 7 | no trend |
| Vietnam | 28.3 | 0.48 | 5 of 7 | -5.7(3) |
0 to 100 is a position inside the frame every country builds together. Zero is the weakest on a dimension and 100 is the strongest. A score of 10 puts a country near the floor of that frame. It does not mean 10 percent of a capability.
Learning indicators
7 indicators define this capability. Gaps and retired rows remain because they lower confidence. Click a heading to sort.
- Cdirect capability measure Measures the thing itself.
- Icapability input Measures something that supports the capability.
- Odownstream outcome Measures a result that usually follows from the capability.
- Pperception proxy Records what people or experts say, not what they did.
Learning
| Note | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adult learning participationno dataset | C | % of adults | higher is better | Eurostat / OECD PIAAC | 0.35 | The best available measure of continuous learning capacity, and it exists only for European and OECD members. |
| Firms offering formal training | C | % of firms | higher is better | World Bank | 0.20 | Enterprise Surveys reach middle-income countries and skip most high-income ones, so coverage here is deliberately uneven and the confidence score should show it. |
| Human Capital Index | C | index 0-1 | higher is better | World Bank | 0.50 | Uses learning-adjusted years of schooling, which is why it is preferred over raw attainment. Last full round is 2020. |
| Public education expenditure | I | % of GDP | higher is better | World Bank | 0.30 | Pure input. Included so the model can be tested for whether inputs add anything over the capability measures. |
| Research citation impactno dataset | O | ratio to world average | higher is better | OpenAlex | 0.30 | Computable from OpenAlex, which is open and inspectable. This is the highest-value gap to close next. |
| Tertiary enrolment | I | % gross | higher is better | World Bank | 0.50 | Volume of formal education. Says nothing about what is learned, which is the trap the spec warns about. |
| I | % of secondary | higher is better | World Bank | 0.10 | Higher is not unambiguously better. It marks a route into skilled work that does not run through university. |
Documented deliveries add context to the data
These records describe a country doing something this capability should capture. They stay outside the score because one case is not a comparable series.
Evidence for missing indicators
Each record describes a case the indicators above cannot see. It does not affect the score or confidence because one case is not comparable across countries. A gap can become an indicator when a comparable series covers at least two countries.
SkillsFuture Creditlinked to Adult learning participation, started 2015, still operating
Singapore gave every citizen aged 25 and over an individual training account in 2016 and keeps topping it up, and in 2024 260,000 Singaporeans spent credit on courses, up 35 percent on the year before.
260,000 people, singaporeans who used skillsfuture credit in the year, 2024. Skills and Workforce Development Agency, formerly SkillsFuture Singapore, year-in-review 2024, retrieved 2026-08-27.
How it worked: The state deposits money in a named account each citizen owns, publishes a course registry with subsidies, and lets individual demand rather than employers decide what gets learned, with top-ups aimed at mid-career workers.
Limits: Usage is the programme reporting on itself, and a usage count says nothing about whether the training raised skills or wages. About 260,000 users in a year is under a tenth of the adult citizen population, and separate reporting notes most citizens had not touched their top-up. The record evidences a durable mechanism for adult learning, not a transformation of participation.
The public library systemlinked to Adult learning participation, started 1928, still operating
Finland runs the world's most used public library system under a statutory duty dating to 1928, and in 2024 Finns borrowed 85.4 million items, 15.3 per inhabitant, and visited libraries 50.7 million times.
15.3 loans per person, library loans per inhabitant, 2024. 50,700,000 visits, library visits in the year, 2024. Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, public library statistics via Libraries.fi, retrieved 2026-08-27.
How it worked: The state made libraries a statutory municipal duty with national subsidy, kept them free by law including reservations and inter-library loans, and municipalities compete on quality, with the flagship in Helsinki placed opposite parliament as a statement.
Limits: Borrowing is reading, not structured adult learning, so the record sits one step from the indicator's construct, which asks about participation in education and training; it is filed because the library statute explicitly assigns libraries a lifelong-learning duty and no better-measured Finnish delivery covers the gap. Loans per head are also falling slowly here as everywhere, and the world-leading claim depends on which countries publish comparable statistics.
CAPES, federal postgraduate fundinglinked to Research citation impact, started 1951, still operating
Founded in 1951, CAPES built a national postgraduate funding and evaluation system, and by 1995 Brazil's system had more than 60,000 students across over 1,000 master's and 600 doctoral courses.
60,000 students, postgraduate students in the national system, 1995. CAPES, História e missão, retrieved 2026-08-29.
How it worked: A federal agency combines funding with peer evaluation and a national standard, so postgraduate programmes coordinate around a common definition of quality instead of growing as isolated local institutions.
Limits: Student and course counts show the scale of the postgraduate system, not the quality or international impact of its research. CAPES reports the institutional history and its own programmes, while citation impact requires a separate bibliometric source.
INEP, the standing education statistics institutionlinked to Research citation impact, started 1937, still operating
Created in 1937, INEP built a standing education statistics and census system that lets federal, state and municipal actors see schools, students and policy results across Brazil, while its historical archive now spans 218.68 linear metres.
218.68 linear metres, historical archive, 2022. INEP, institutional history and historical archive, retrieved 2026-08-29.
How it worked: A permanent statistical institution gives education policy a memory and a common set of objects, so schools, students and results can be compared across territories and governments.
Limits: An archive and a census show that a state can record itself, not that the resulting policy improves learning or research quality. The data system also depends on reporting by schools and education secretariats, and its history includes institutional redesign.
Read how the benchmark turns an indicator into a score on the method page. The limits page records where this capability is still poorly observed.