Kyiv, 4 December 2025 — The audience for Ukraine's annual National Media Literacy Test is significantly older and demonstrably more media-literate, according to the 2025 test results presented in Kyiv. The shift marks a growing recognition of media literacy as a necessity for broader segments of the population beyond just youth.

The test, which is an initiative of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine's national media literacy project "Filter," this year saw a substantial increase in participation from older adults. While over 60% of test-takers in 2024 were under 35, the 2025 results showed that 47.6% of participants were aged 36 and older, indicating that media literacy is "no longer just a ‘youth trend,’" according to Valentyna Aksonova, Strategic Communications Specialist at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine.

This is the third year in a row that the test has been carried out with support from UNDP in Ukraine and with funding from the Government of Japan. It forms part of the systemic assistance of the people of Japan to Ukraine, provided with the aim of strengthening the information resilience and security of the people of Ukraine.

This year, the test was available online from 29 to 31 October 2025. More than 66,000 people started the test, and 34,470 completed it.

Hanna Krasnostup, Director of the Department of Strategic Communications and Promotion of Ukrainian Culture at the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, stressed during the presentation of the test’s results that Ukraine’s experience in implementing a state initiative of this scale is unique:

“Today we are sharing this experience with all our international partners, and in fact the test allows us to adjust the programmes, projects, trainings and questions that we plan to implement under the national media literacy project ‘Filter’ in 2026,” Krasnostup said.

Aksonova, in turn, noted that all four macro-regions of Ukraine – west, centre, south and east – showed very similar average scores in 2025, and that the average score increased in each macro-region compared to 2024.

“The greatest progress was recorded in the south and east of the country,” Aksonova said. 

“This is an important signal: even regions close to the frontline are actively taking the test, are interested in media literacy and in countering disinformation. This means participation in the test is not a local or purely ‘Kyiv-centred’ story – overall levels of engagement and results across all regions are quite similar.”

Olha Kravchenko, Head of the National Media Literacy project “Filter”, drew attention to the gender dimension of participation in the test and the need for targeted work with different audiences:

“Among those who entered their data, 78% were women and 22% men,” Kravchenko said. “This confirms a trend seen in previous years: media literacy in Ukraine still remains a somewhat ‘feminised’ topic – women are more active in taking the test and joining educational initiatives. We need additional, more targeted work with male audiences.”

Olesia Kholopik, Director of the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law, stressed the strategic importance of media literacy in wartime:

“Today we in fact have to constantly work on improving the media literacy of Ukrainians,” Kholopik said. “And I, as the mother of a three-year-old child who is already interested in media products, understand very well how important this is. Information from phones, tablets and televisions affects children from a very early age, and that is why we need to create more high-quality Ukrainian content for them. This has a strategic impact on the media literacy of the entire population.”

Notably, this year’s test results show a clear positive shift in participants’ media literacy levels: in 2025, 27% of participants reached the “media literacy guru” level (22–25 points), compared to only 8% in 2024; 48% achieved the “almost guru” level (38% last year), while the share of “beginners” decreased from 43% to 21%, and the proportion of “novices” fell threefold – from 11% to 4%.

The correct answers to the 2025 National Media Literacy Test are available via this link on the official website of the “Filter” project.

The National Media Literacy Test is implemented by the national media literacy project “Filter” of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine in partnership with the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law, with support from UNDP in Ukraine and with funding from the Government of Japan.

Media enquiries:
 Yuliia Samus, Head of Communications and Advocacy, UNDP in Ukraine, yuliia.samus@undp.org