The OECD average is a comparative benchmark built from the results of participating countries. It gives analysts a single reference point for judging whether a score sits above or below the group norm. In practice, it is useful because it turns many national results into one standard measure, but it is still only an average: it can hide strong variation between top performers and weaker ones.
In cyber security, the same idea appears in benchmarking. Teams compare patch times, phishing click rates, incident response speed, or control maturity against a shared baseline to see where they stand. This helps defenders prioritize gaps and track improvement over time. It also matters in attacks, because criminals often look for organizations that appear “average” overall but have weak edges, such as poor endpoint hygiene, inconsistent authentication, or low user awareness. A benchmark is useful for context, but it should never be treated as proof of resilience.