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Category: Singapore ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ (Page 1 of 3)

Adult skills in literacy and numeracy declining or stagnating in most OECD countries

2024-12-10 /

A new OECD Survey of Adult Skills shows literacy and numeracy skills among adults have largely declined or remained stagnated over the past decade in most OECD countries.

The Survey measured the skills of around 160,000 16-65 year-olds across 31 countries. It looked at how literacy, numeracy and problem solving skills are used at work.โ€ฏIt aims to provide insight of how developing and using skills improves employment prospects and quality of life as well as boosting economic growth.

One of the findings is that only Finland and Denmark have seen significant improvements in adult literacy skills over the past decade.

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Top 30 countries ranked for adventure (2021)

2021-06-09 /

The US News and World Report has again ranked countries according to how well they break from the norm and fulfill people’s wanderlust and desire for adventure.

The top 30 adventure rankings for 2021 are ยป

  • 1. Brazil ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท
  • 2. Italy ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น
  • 3. Spain ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ
  • 4. Greece ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท
  • 5. Thailand ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ญ
  • 6. Mexico ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฝ (Up from #11 in 2020)
  • 7. New Zealand ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟ
  • 8. Australia ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ (Up from #10 in 2020)
  • 9. Portugal ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡น (Down from #6 in 2020)
  • 10. Costa Rica ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ท (Down from #8 in 2020)

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Switzerland remains the best country in the world ยป Canada has moved up to the second spot ยป U.S. News 2020 Best Countries rankings

2020-01-15 /

For Switzerland, the 2020 ranking is the the fourth consecutive yearhas been judged No. 1 by residents of 36 countries. Canada was chosen second, overtaking Japan in the U.S. News’ fifth annual survey.

The Best Countries report, produced from an annual global survey of more than 20,000 people in 36 countries including the United States, reflects increasingly negative views of the world and within countries. Nearly half of survey respondents say conditions around the world have worsened in the past year. Likewise, an increased percentage of people say the gap between the rich and poor has grown and that nationalism is increasing.

According to the ranking, here are the Top 25 Countries in the World

  1. Switzerland
  2. Canada
  3. Japan
  4. Germany
  5. Australia
  6. United Kingdom
  7. United States
  8. Sweden
  9. Netherlands
  10. Norway
  11. New Zealand
  12. France
  13. Denmark
  14. Finland
  15. China
  16. Singapore
  17. Italy
  18. Austria
  19. Spain
  20. South Korea
  21. Luxembourg
  22. United Arab Emirates
  23. Russia
  24. Portugal
  25. India

The Bottom 5 of the U.S. News 2020 Best Countries rankings are

  • Lebanon
  • Serbia
  • Oman
  • Belarus
  • Tunisia

See the full report.

 

 

Oskar Speck, the man who paddled a kayak from Germany to Australia starting in 1932, and Sandy Robson, the woman who recreated the adventure some 80 years later

2019-12-02 /

Justin Housman, writing in The Adventure Journal ยป

In a span of seven years, he paddled a series of 15-foot kayaks more than 30,000 miles from the Danube River in Europe to the tropical shores of far northern Australia. Even better, when he first set out, he was โ€œmerelyโ€ planning to paddle to Cyprus for work, with no intention of traveling by kayak to the other side of the world. But the paddling proved irresistible and Speck did not stop once he reached Cyprus.

[โ€ฆ]

Speck was 25 years old when he set out on his incredible journey. He was an unemployed electrician living in Hamburg. Work was scarce and prospects were dim after the 1929 stock market crash ripped through Germany, so Speck decided to seek work in the copper mines of Cyprus. With no other means to get there, and as a proud member of a kayaking club since his youth, Speck decided to paddle his way to, hopefully, a job.

In May, 1932, Speck shoved off from banks of the Danube in a collapsible and very much not seaworthy 15-foot kayak, and began paddling south. He arrived in the Balkans several weeks later and, lulled to boredom by the languid waters of the Danube, Speck made for the Vardar River, where soon fierce rapids dashed his boat nearly to splinters. While awaiting repairs, winter set in and the Vardar froze over, locking Speck in place for months.

Read the whole article in The Adventure Journal ยป


Note: Clicking the above image will load and play the video from YouTube.

In November 2016, Western Australian woman Sandy Robson (aged 48), recreated Speck’s adventure, completed in some 5 years, having visited 20 countries and paddled some 23,000 kilometres.


Note: Clicking the above image will load and play the video from YouTube.


Note: Clicking the above image will load and play the video from YouTube.

Japan and Singapore top 2019 list of world’s most powerful passports

2019-10-01 /

Euan McKirdy and Maureen O’Hare at CNN write ยป

Japan and Singapore have held onto their position as the world’s most travel-friendly passports.

That’s the view of the Henley Passport Index, which periodically measures the access each country’s travel document affords.

Singapore and Japan’s passports have topped the rankings thanks to both documents offering access to 190 countries each.

South Korea rubs shoulders with Finland and Germany in second place, with citizens of all three countries able to access 188 jurisdictions around the world without a prior visa.

Finland has benefited from recent changes to Pakistan‘s formerly highly restrictive visa policy. Pakistan now offers an ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) to citizens of 50 countries, including Finland, Japan, Spain, Malta, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates — but not, notably, the United States or the UK.

Read more of this article at CNN ยป

The best passports in 2019 are:

1. Japan, Singapore (190 destinations)
2. Finland, Germany, South Korea (188)
3. Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg (187)
4. France, Spain, Sweden (186)
5. Austria, Netherlands, Portugal (185)
6. Belgium, Canada, Greece, Ireland, Norway, United Kingdom, United States, Switzerland (184)
7. Malta, Czech Republic (183)
8. New Zealand (182)
9. Australia, Lithuania, Slovakia (181)
10. Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Slovenia (180)
More at the Henley Passport Index

Notes

ยป Canada has been ranked 6th four years in a row. They were ranked 2nd in 2014, then dropped to 4th in 2015, and have been holding steady in 6th since 2016.

ยป The USA been on a steady decline since 2014 when they were ranked 1st. They dropped to 2nd in 2015, 4th in 2016, 5th in 2017 and 2018, and to 6th this year.

ยป The UK has been on a steady decline in the rankings, dropping from 1st in 2015, to 3rd in 2016, to 4th in 2017, to 5th in 2018, to 6th this year.

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