The OECD has introduced an international survey of problem-solving skills among students, involving 84000 students in 44 countries.
The first survey results place students in Singapore, Korea, Japan and China (Macao, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei) at the top of the list for problem-solving skills. Students in Canada, Australia, Finland, France, Germany, England and the USA scored above the OECD average.
Only about one in nine fifteen-year old students perform at the top level across the OECD while one in five do in Singapore, Korea and Japan. Gender differences are small except for the highest-scoring group, where three in five are boys. The OECD also reports that socio-economic status, while still present as a factor, has less influence in problem-solving skills than in performance in mathematics, reading and science.
http://www.oecd.org/topics/ 01/04/2014 first PISA problem-solving test