{"id":60819,"date":"2021-12-22T03:53:23","date_gmt":"2021-12-22T08:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=60819"},"modified":"2021-12-22T03:53:23","modified_gmt":"2021-12-22T08:53:23","slug":"people-who-are-bad-with-numbers-often-find-it-harder-to-make-ends-meet-even-if-they-are-not-poor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/people-who-are-bad-with-numbers-often-find-it-harder-to-make-ends-meet-even-if-they-are-not-poor\/","title":{"rendered":"People who are bad with numbers often find it harder to make ends meet \u2013 even if they are not poor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nPeople who are bad with numbers are more likely to experience financial difficulties than people who are good with numbers. That\u2019s according to\u00a0our analyses<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0Lloyd\u2019s Register Foundation World Risk Poll<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In this World Risk Poll, people from 141 countries were asked if 10% was bigger than, smaller than or the same as 1 out of 10. Participants were said to be bad with numbers if they did not provide the correct answer \u2013 which is that 10% is the same as 1 out of 10.\u00a0Our analyses<\/a>\u00a0found that people who answered incorrectly are often among the poorest in their country. Prior studies in the\u00a0United States<\/a>,\u00a0United Kingdom<\/a>,\u00a0the Netherlands<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Peru<\/a>\u00a0had also found that people who are bad with numbers are financially worse off. But\u00a0our analyses of the World Risk Poll<\/a>\u00a0further showed that people who are bad with numbers find it harder to make ends meet, even if they are not poor.<\/p>\n

When we say that they found it harder to make ends meet, we mean that they reported on the poll that they found it difficult or very difficult to live on their current income, as opposed to living comfortably or getting by on their current income.<\/p>\n

Our analyses<\/a>\u00a0also indicate that staying in school longer is related to better number ability. People with a high school degree tend to be better with numbers than people without a high school degree. And college graduates do even better. But even among college graduates there are people who are bad with numbers \u2013 and they struggle more financially.
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Of course, being good with numbers is not going to help you stretch your budget if you are very poor.\u00a0We found<\/a>\u00a0that the relationship between number ability and struggling to make ends meet holds across the world, except in low-income countries like Ethiopia, Somalia and Rwanda.
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Why it matters<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The ability to understand and use numbers is also called\u00a0numeracy<\/a>. Numeracy is\u00a0central to modern adult life<\/a>\u00a0because numbers are everywhere.<\/p>\n

A lot of well-paying jobs involve working with numbers. People who are bad with numbers often perform worse in these jobs, including\u00a0banking<\/a>. It can therefore be hard for people who are bad with numbers to\u00a0find employment and progress in their jobs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

People who are bad with numbers are less likely\u00a0to make good financial decisions<\/a>. Individuals who can\u2019t compute how interest compounds over time\u00a0save the least and borrow the most<\/a>. People with poor numerical skills are also more likely\u00a0to take on high-cost debt<\/a>. If you\u2019re bad with numbers, it is hard to\u00a0recognize<\/a>\u00a0that paying the US$30 minimum payment on a credit card with a $3,000 balance and an annual percentage rate of 12% means it will never be paid off.<\/p>\n

What still isn\u2019t known<\/strong><\/h4>\n

It is clear that people who are bad with numbers also tend to struggle financially. But we still need to explore whether teaching people math will help them to avoid financial problems.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In her book \u201cInnumeracy in the Wild<\/a>,\u201d Ellen Peters, director of the Center for Science Communication Research at the University of Oregon, suggests that it is important for students to take math classes. American high school students who had to\u00a0take more math courses<\/a>\u00a0than were previously required had better financial outcomes later in life, such as avoiding bankruptcy and foreclosures.<\/p>\n

Successfully teaching numeracy also means helping students gain confidence in using numbers. People with\u00a0low numerical confidence<\/a>\u00a0experience bad financial outcomes, such as a foreclosure notice, independent of their numeric ability. This is because they may not even try to take on complex financial decisions.<\/p>\n

Numerical confidence can be boosted in different ways. Among American\u00a0elementary school children<\/a>\u00a0who were bad with numbers, setting achievable goals led to better numerical confidence and performance. Among American\u00a0undergraduate students<\/a>, a writing exercise that affirmed their positive values improved their numerical confidence and performance.<\/p>\n

Other important next steps are to find out whether training in numeracy can also be provided to adults, and whether training in numeracy improves the financial outcomes of people who do not live in high-income countries.<\/p>\n

Author Bios:<\/strong> W\u00e4ndi Bruine de Bruin is Professor of Public Policy, Psychology and Behavioral Science, USC Sol Price School of Public Policy at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and Paul Slovic is Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People who are bad with numbers are more likely to experience financial difficulties than people who are good with numbers. That\u2019s according to\u00a0our analyses\u00a0of the\u00a0Lloyd\u2019s Register Foundation World Risk Poll. In this World Risk Poll, people from 141 countries were asked if 10% was bigger than, smaller than or the same as 1 out of […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[13182],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-60819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-finances"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPeople who are bad with numbers often find it harder to make ends meet \u2013 even if they are not poor - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/people-who-are-bad-with-numbers-often-find-it-harder-to-make-ends-meet-even-if-they-are-not-poor\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"People who are bad with numbers often find it harder to make ends meet \u2013 even if they are not poor - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"People who are bad with numbers are more likely to experience financial difficulties than people who are good with numbers. That\u2019s according to\u00a0our analyses\u00a0of the\u00a0Lloyd\u2019s Register Foundation World Risk Poll. 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