In 2014, the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center interviewed 150,000 people in 140 countries in order to measure the degree of financial education on a global basis. Evidence shows that worldwide 2 in 3 adults are considered financially illiterate.
In Brazil, where the project started, it is no different. Only 35% of the adults answered the survey’s questions correctly, placing our country in the 74th place of the global ranking, behind some of the poorest countries in the world such as Madagascar, Togo and Zimbabwe.
In March 2016, we had 60 million Brazilian citizens with overdue bills, representing almost half of the country’s adult population.
The effects of poor planning and financial organization also significantly compromise people’s quality of life, regardless of their income. Many studies show that debts contribute to aggravating health problems such as stress and depression, family and marital conflicts, decreased productivity at work, in addition to being one of the most common factors that lead to students dropping studies at higher education.
Data on this world scenario reveals the high price we pay today for decisions made without due consideration and rational use of resources. Economic and financial education increases awareness of how to make good decisions involving limited resources such as time, the school space being extremely favorable to raise awareness and gain knowledge about the subject.
Financial Education, inserted through games and combined with several cross-cutting themes, can be incorporated into different pedagogical proposals respecting the local culture of the most diverse countries, thus enabling the study of this important subject and not restricting it to a single subject.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
The games have already received awards in Brazil, which shows how efficient they are in their proposal of contributing to the financial education of young people and adults.