Where our figures come from
The sources
Every figure published on this site has a line in a register, with its public source and the date we read it. That register holds three books, because three kinds of fact are not checked against the same source: the 10 statistics of the course, in the table below; the legal deadlines and the reporting authorities of each country, on Your country; the date and the licence of each work reproduced, on Credits. Without its line in one of the three, a numerical fact appears nowhere on this site.
The rule
No open source, no figure
A numerical fact that appears on this site has a line in the register first: the fact as it is written, the source that publishes it, its publisher, the public address where it can be read, and the date on which we read it. Without that line, the figure is published nowhere here, even if it looks already known or obvious to us. The requirement is the same in all three books: a numerical fact enters a page only once it has its line there.
The rule allows no exception for convenience. A study hidden behind an account, a paywall or an internal report does not count: a source you cannot open yourself proves nothing, it only moves the trust one step, towards us.
You do not have to take our word for it. Every line in the table below leads to its source, public and open: open it, read it, compare it with what we write.
The book of statistics
Every fact, its source, its date
Line by line: the fact as it appears on this site, the publication that proves it, and the date we read it.
| The fact | The source | Read on |
|---|---|---|
| Only 42% of adults answer a question on compound interest correctly | OECD/INFE 2023 International Survey of Adult Financial Literacy OECD | |
| 34% of adults reach the minimum financial literacy score | OECD/INFE 2023 International Survey of Adult Financial Literacy OECD | |
| 63% of adults can apply the time value of money to their own savings | OECD/INFE 2023 International Survey of Adult Financial Literacy OECD | |
| 26% of adults compare offers from several providers before signing up | OECD/INFE 2023 International Survey of Adult Financial Literacy OECD | |
| 15% of adults report having been the victim of at least one financial fraud or scam | OECD/INFE 2023 International Survey of Adult Financial Literacy OECD | |
| 54% of adults could absorb a major expense equal to one month of income without borrowing or asking friends and family for help | OECD/INFE 2023 International Survey of Adult Financial Literacy OECD | |
| 41% of adults know that cryptocurrencies are not legal tender | OECD/INFE 2023 International Survey of Adult Financial Literacy OECD | |
| A police operation coordinated across 97 countries and territories against scams built on manipulation | Over 5,800 arrests, USD 293 million intercepted in global fraud bust (Operation First Light 2026) INTERPOL | |
| 142,000 victims identified in that single operation | Over 5,800 arrests, USD 293 million intercepted in global fraud bust (Operation First Light 2026) INTERPOL | |
| The release cites as examples impersonation, the false investment promise, the romance scam, blackmail and business email compromise | Over 5,800 arrests, USD 293 million intercepted in global fraud bust (Operation First Light 2026) INTERPOL |
A perishable figure, presented with its date
Some facts move from one year to the next: a survey percentage, an amount intercepted by an operation, a score that gets measured again. Those figures carry the mark perishable in our register, and that mark changes one thing: we never refresh them in silence, on a date that would stay invisible to you.
Two dates therefore travel with a perishable figure, and they do not say the same thing. The year of the survey or of the operation, or its period when it spans two years, is written into the sentence that carries the figure, on the page where you read it. The date on which we read the source is in the date column of the table above. A date that grows old stays honest; a figure that changes without saying so does not. By comparing the two, you are the one who judges whether the figure deserves checking again.
A sourced fact, and an example that proves itself
Two kinds of number run through this course, and they are never confused. A sourced fact describes the outside world: the share of adults who answer a question correctly, the number of countries taking part in an operation against fraud. Nobody can arrive at it by calculation: it comes from an observation published elsewhere, so it has its line in one of the three books of the register. A legal deadline, the date of a painted work, a survey percentage: three facts about the world, three books, the same requirement of source and date.
An arithmetic example does something else: “1,000 at 10% for 10 years” says nothing about the world, it illustrates a mechanism. Anyone can replay it in their head or on a calculator, and land on the same result. An example of that kind has no line here: it needs no source, it proves itself every time it is replayed.
If a figure looks wrong or out of date
Open the source cited beside it: it is the same one we used, and it stays public. If it has changed since the date we read it, or if the line looks badly copied, tell us. The Report an error page prepares a message with the figure concerned and what the source says today: it goes by email, and we keep only what is needed to correct it.
Content up to date as of .
What these figures add up to overall is on /data/impact.json. How the course that uses them is written and checked is on Our method.