Ranked: The Best Countries at Creative Thinking

Ranked: The Best Countries at Creative Thinking

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Creativity is increasingly seen as a core skill for the modern economy. As automation and AI reshape jobs, the ability to generate original ideas and solve unfamiliar problems is becoming just as important as technical knowledge.

This infographic ranks countries by how well students perform in creative thinking.

The data for this visualization comes from the OECD’s PISA 2022 Creative Thinking assessment. This evaluation measures how effectively students aged 15 and 16 generate original ideas, evaluate them, and refine solutions to real-world problems, with top performers scoring above 40 points.

Singapore Leads by a Clear Margin

Singapore ranks first overall with a mean creative thinking score of 41, making it the only country to cross the 40-point threshold. This result mirrors its strong performance in other PISA domains such as math and science.

The country’s curriculum emphasizes problem-based learning and interdisciplinary thinking, which may help explain its lead, despite perceptions that Singaporeans lack creativity.

Rank	Country	Score
1	Singapore	41
2	South Korea	38
3	Canada	38
4	Australia	37
5	New Zealand	36
6	Estonia	36
7	Finland	36
8	Denmark	35
9	Latvia	35
10	Belgium	35
11	Poland	34
12	Portugal	34
13	Taiwan	33
14	Lithuania	33
15	Spain	33
16	Czechia	33
17	Germany	33
	OECD average	33
18	Macao	32
19	Hong Kong	32
20	France	32
21	Netherlands	32
22	Israel	32
23	Italy	31
24	Malta	31
25	Hungary	31
26	Chile	31
27	Croatia	30
28	Iceland	30
29	Slovenia	30
30	Greece	27

Strong Performance Across Smaller Advanced Economies

A group of advanced economies cluster just below the top spot. Korea and Canada share second place with scores of 38, followed closely by Australia and New Zealand.

Several European countries, including Estonia, Finland, Denmark, and Latvia, also perform above the OECD average.

Most Countries Sit Near the OECD Average

The OECD average score for creative thinking is 33, and many countries fall close to this level. Germany, Spain, Taiwan, and Czechia all score exactly at the average. Toward the bottom, Greece records the lowest score at 27, suggesting larger gaps in creative skill development.

Notably, the United States did not participate in the PISA 2022 creative thinking assessment.

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• Source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-best-countries-at-creative-thinking/