Browse by: "2021"

Latest available data indicate a significant decrease in overall migration flows to G20 countries in 2020. In total, 7 to 7.5 million new temporary and permanent migrants entered G20 countries in 2020, which represents about a 40% decrease on average compared to 2019.

Literacy in the 21st century is about constructing and validating knowledge. Digital technologies have enabled the spread of all kinds of information, displacing traditional formats of usually more carefully curated information such as encyclopaedias and newspapers. The massive information flow of the digital era demands that readers be able to distinguish between fact and opinion. Readers must learn strategies to detect biased information and malicious content like fake news and phishing emails. What the PISA 21st-century readers report reveals is that students’ access to digital technologies and training on how to use them greatly vary between countries and students’ socio-economic profiles. This report explores how 15-year-old students are developing reading skills to navigate the technology-rich 21st century. It sheds light on potential ways to strengthen students’ capacity to navigate the new world of information. It highlights how countries need to redouble their efforts to combat emerging digital divides. It also explores what teachers can do to help students navigate ambiguity and manage complexity.

<img src="https://assets.oecdcode.org/ilibraryres/img/DG-Reform_banner-Kappa_en.png" class="img-responsive" style="adding-bottom:5px;" alt="EU Funded Note"/> The national financial literacy strategy for Austria will guide the actions of Austrian stakeholders for the next five years. It creates a Financial Literacy Stakeholder Council and it identifies policy priorities based on evidence. It presents over forty action tools to support the strategy's implementation, and defines an impact evaluation framework. Its ultimate objective is to increase the financial well-being of people living in Austria over the long-term. The design of the strategy is in line with the OECD Council Recommendation on Financial Literacy. 

Mental ill-health affects millions of people, and drives economic costs of more than 4% of GDP. A good mental health system helps people stay in good mental health, and connects those in need to appropriate support to manage their mental health condition or even fully recover from it. However, mental health care has long been neglected and under-funded, and unmet need for care is still high. The long-lasting COVID-19 crisis and the toll it is taking on mental health has made mental health systems more important than ever. This timely report provides an in-depth analysis of how well countries are delivering the policies and services that matter for mental health system performance. The report highlights recent reforms countries have taken to strengthen mental health performance, including by increasing access to mental health care, ensuring that service users take the lead in planning and even delivering services, and prioritising integration and mental health promotion. The report also identifies promising approaches countries should pursue to better meet their populations’ mental health needs. This report sets up a framework for understanding mental health performance through internationally comparable indicators, an approach set to grow stronger still in the coming years as more data become available.

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Israeli system of local government finance, with a focus on the role of the Israeli property tax, known as the Arnona. Local governments are financed through a combination of revenue, primarily from central government grants and from the Arnona, which is levied on residential and non-residential land and buildings but is based on their physical size rather than their value. The first chapter provides a description of the Israeli system of local government finance and compares it to local government finance in OECD countries. Using standard criteria for the evaluation of taxes, the second chapter assess the strengths and shortcoming of the Arnona and the intergovernmental grant system. Attention is paid to fiscal disparities among municipalities and to the ability of the current system to provide all Israelis with adequate and equitable access to economic and social services and infrastructure. The final chapter presents a set of 13 policy recommendations divided between proposals for improving the existing Arnona system and a longer-run blueprint for a more substantial reform of the system of local government finance in Israel based on the establishment of a value-based system of local property taxation.

Current population trends and the COVID-19 pandemic reinforce the need for efficient public service provision while guaranteeing good access to all. Population decline and ageing in rural regions affect the provision of services through lower economies of scale and scope, professional shortages and longer distances. Reliable estimates of the costs and access arising from demographic and geographical differences can help adapt the provision of services to different territorial realities. This report provides internationally comparable fine-grained present and future estimates of the cost and physical access to education (primary and secondary) and health services (cardiology, maternity and obstetrics) in European countries. The report finds that demographic change in the next decades will likely further strain the trade-off between costs and access, especially in remote rural areas. Adapting to changes in demand following lower fertility rates and ageing implies that services will need to become more widely available, while others will have to concentrate more. This report aims to support evidence-based policy decisions to ensure service provision allows for both cost efficiency and a sufficient level of access in all territories.

This report presents findings from a survey on green finance conducted among 1 000 households in the Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan) in 2019. Although green finance is an emerging trend, knowledge about the appetite for green financial products and services in Kyrgyzstan is almost inexistent. The OECD prepared the household survey to close this gap in evidence. The research identified needs and demand from existing and potential clients of Kyrgyz financial institutions for financial instruments, including those that promote sustainable development. This will help commercial banks, policy makers and central bankers design more targeted interventions to increase access to and use of financial products and services, including green finance, in Kyrgyzstan.

This summary report provides an overview of the impact that standards and labelling programmes are having on the energy efficiency of energy-using appliances and equipment in countries around the world. It draws on a global review of nearly 400 published reports, studies and papers covering more than 100 products – representing one of the most comprehensive datasets assembled on the topic to date. It confirms that improvements to the energy efficiency of appliances and equipment are some of the lowest-cost options available today for reducing energy consumption and associated emissions, with typical society benefit/cost ratios of 4:1. Programmes that have been operating the longest, such as those in the United States and the European Union, are estimated to deliver annual reductions of around 15% of total current electricity consumption. These programmes provide net financial benefits to individuals and the community. Other benefits, including employment, product innovation, water savings, improvements in air quality and the reduction of public expenditure on health, add to the case for stronger standards and labels.

Achieving sustainable, equitable and resilient societies is humankind’s challenge for the 21st century. In pursuit of this ambition, the international development community needs a shared, universal framework, within which to work more closely together. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the obvious answer, but a number of technical, political and organisational challenges prevent development co-operation providers from using them as their common results framework. Based on seven case studies, this publication identifies two critical factors and one game changer that can help overcome those challenges. First, country leadership needs to be supported by the international community. Second, development partners need to change their set-ups in order to deliver on the SDGs. Finally, by forcing governments and development partners to reset their long-term strategies and rethink their internal systems, the COVID-19 pandemic provides them with a rare opportunity to use the SDG framework collectively as a roadmap to recovery: this can be a game changer.

This annual report monitors and evaluates agricultural policies in 54 countries, including the 38 OECD countries, the five non-OECD EU Member States, and 11 emerging economies. The report includes country specific analysis based on up-to-date estimates of support to agriculture that are compiled using a comprehensive system of measurement and classification – the Producer and Consumer Support Estimates (PSE and CSE) and related indicators. This year’s report focuses on policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and analyses the implications of agricultural support policies for the performance of food systems.

Air pollution has emerged as one of India’s gravest social and environmental problems in recent years. At the same time, the country is experiencing signs of a warming climate with potentially devastating effects in the long term. Energy-related fuel combustion is at the heart of both crises. It is a main source of three major air pollutants, NOX, SO2 and PM2.5, and the largest contributor to India’s CO2 emissions. In many locations, concentrations of particulate matter persistently exceed recommended national and international standards with severe implications for public health. In 2019 alone, India experienced an estimated 1.2 million air pollution-related premature deaths. At the same time, India’s growing economy is driving CO2 emissions, which increased by more than 55% in the last decade, and are expected to rise by 50% to 2040. Today’s energy choices matter for future development, as they have direct and far-reaching implications for the lives of a growing population. Energy-related air pollutants and CO2 emissions often arise from the same sources, therefore the adoption of an integrated approach to tackle both can deliver important co-benefits. This report shows that well designed, coherent policy packages can deliver such synergies if properly implemented. In order to demonstrate co-benefit potential, it provides quantitative analysis that presents the ways in which flagship energy policies can contribute to both air pollution reduction and climate change mitigation in tandem. Four key sectors are assessed for this purpose: captive power plants, industrial energy efficiency, road transport electrification and expanded access to clean cooking. Policy frameworks that accommodate these synergies will provide a more impactful response and deliver durable benefits to the most pressing national health and environmental challenges, while offering great potential for India’s contribution in the global fight against climate change.

The COVID-19 crisis is an enormous challenge to economies and societies across the world. It has exposed our vulnerabilities to global shocks and underlined the importance of improving environmental health and societal resilience. Early in the pandemic, economic rescue measures had the priority of providing relief to workers and businesses. But the economic stimulus packages and recovery plans that governments are now putting in place have the potential to create a recovery that is both green and inclusive while achieving global climate goals.