Euroinvestment | Financial Literacy Game for Adults’ Citizens - Do socioeconomic and demographic variables influence financial literacy levels?

A recent research study conducted by Brazilian researchers shows evidence that those variables impact at an individual’s financial literacy levels more than expected.

The study was conducted in the region of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, including a sample of 1.400 individuals, focusing in three key indicators (financial attitude, financial behaviour, and financial knowledge) and a set of Socioeconomic and Demographic Variables such as gender, marital status, dependent family members, occupation, age, educational level, father's educational level, mother's educational level, individual income, and family income.

The results show that there is a strong relationship between the socioeconomic and demographic variables and financial literacy. Analysing them we can conclude that generally, individuals aged 30 to 40 years old have higher financial literacy levels and that women possess lower levels of financial literacy than men (especially single women) and that Men's financial literacy is increasing faster than that of women. However, it is also noticed that married individuals with more than two children are also in the group more vulnerable. Considering the parameters of professional occupation and the educational level attained, unemployed individuals, show less desirable attitudes and behaviours towards financial literacy, while those with higher educational levels are those with higher financial literacy levels. Details of the findings of the study are presented below:

Variables	Relation to financial literacy
Gender	Women generally have lower financial literacy levels than men; Women are less likely to answer the questions correctly and more likely to say they do not know the answer; Men's financial literacy is increasing faster than that of women; Making a comparison between women, those married and having higher incomes show higher financial literacy levels.
Age	The average age from 30 to 40 years is associated with higher financial literacy levels; Financial literacy is low among young and elderly individuals; Young adults have used loans with high costs.
Marital status	Singles are significantly more prone to have lower financial literacy levels than married individuals.
Having dependent family members	Individuals who have a child are less likely to have low financial literacy levels than those who have two or three children; Families with dependent members are more likely to contract loans with higher costs.
Occupation	Individuals with longer labour experience have higher financial literacy because of greater familiarity with economic and financial subjects, while unskilled or unemployed workers show less desirable attitudes and behaviours.
Education level	Those with higher educational levels are those with higher financial literacy levels; The number of courses related to the financial field attended at an undergraduate education is related to the financial literacy level; Those with lower education are less likely to answer the questions correctly and more prone to say they do not know the answer.
Parental educational level	Parents influence their children's literacy; Individuals' financial literacy is uniformly related to parental educational levels; Parents play a major role by influencing their children's consumer behaviour; Individuals learn more about money management with their parents.
Income	Low-income levels are associated with low financial literacy levels.

The findings of the study point out the need for implementing effective actions to minimize the lack of financial illiteracy. Euroinvestment project is contributing to respond to this need by providing a set of flexible educational games, addressing adults. The games will enable adults educators, trainers and counsellors of using them in non-formal and formal learning contexts to improve adults financial literacy awareness and knowledge. At the same time, adults will be able to learn through the games autonomously as independent users as well.

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. [Project Number: 2018-1-PT01-KA204-047362]
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