The United Nations, which defines illiteracy as the inability to read
and write a simple message in any language, has conducted a number of
surveys on world illiteracy.
?Using the UN definition of illiteracy, the United States and Canada
have an overall illiteracy rate of about 1%.?
Encyclopedia.com
http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/section/illitera_WorldIlliteracyRates.asp
-------------------------------------------
The National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), a monumental study that
remains the most comprehensive, statistically reliable source of data
on literacy in the United States.
?The NALS found a total of 21-23 percent - or 40-44 million - of the
191 million American adults (defined as age 16 or older) at Level 1,
the lowest literacy level.?
What Does Level 1 Mean?
?The following chart details activities most adults at Level 1 usually
can and cannot perform successfully.?
Can Usually Perform:
--------------------
Sign one's name
Identify a country in a short article
Locate one piece of information in a sports article
Locate the expiration date information on a driver's license
Total a bank deposit entry
Cannot Usually Perform
----------------------
Locate eligibility from a table of employee benefits
Locate intersection on a street map
Locate two pieces of information in a sports article
Identify and enter background information on a social security card application
Calculate total costs of purchase from an order form
http://www.nifl.gov/reders/!intro.htm
======================================================
47 million American adults are functionally illiterate
======================================================
?According to the U.S. Department of Education, 47 million American
adults are functionally illiterate today, and each week, another
44,000 people are added to the U. S. adult illiterate population.?
?Some 23 million American adults are functionally illiterate by the
simplest tests of everyday reading, writing, and comprehension.?
?About 13 percent of all 17-year-olds in the United States can be
considered functionally illiterate. Functional illiteracy among
minority youth may run as high as 40 percent.?
?The U.S. Department of Education says that the number of functionally
illiterate 17-year-olds in the United States still is about 13
percent. Among minority youth, 44 percent of 17-year-olds are
functionally illiterate.?
Education World: 04/29/2003
http://www.education-world.com/a_issues/issues392.shtml
---------------------------------
Illiterate America By Alan Caruba
---------------------------------
?Literacy is absolutely essential for the success of any society. In
America, however, one in five high school graduates cannot read his or
her diploma. Fully 85 per cent of unwed mothers are illiterate and 70
per cent of Americans who get arrested are illiterate. An estimated 21
million Americans simply cannot read and the costs of illiteracy are
estimated to be $225 billion a year in lost productivity.?
http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0201illiterateamerica.htm
==================================
United Nations Statistics Division
==================================
?The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
defines an illiterate person as someone who can not, with
understanding, both read and write a short, simple statement on his or
her everyday life. A person who can only read but not write, or can
write but not read is considered to be illiterate. A person who can
only write figures, his or her name or a memorized ritual phrase is
also not considered literate.?
TABLE:
The UN provides a detailed table of illiteracy rates by country,
gender and age. Due to copyright restrictions I can?t copy and paste
the table here however I am providing you with the direct link to the
table: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/social/illiteracy.htm
===
PBS
===
Indicator definition:
?The adult illiteracy rate is the percentage of adults aged 15 and
above who cannot, with understanding, read and write a short, simple
statement about their everyday life. Source: The World Bank.?
PBS provides a graph of U.S. illiteracy rates from 1920-2000 at the
bottom of the following webpage:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/lo/countries/us/us_well.html
=================
Unesco Statistics
=================
Unesco Institute of Statistics provides the latest illiteracy figures:
This is in excel format:
Regional adult illiteracy rate and population by gender 1970-2015
http://www.uis.unesco.org/en/stats/statistics/UIS_Literacy_Regional2002.xls
This is in excel format:
Estimates and Projections of Adult Illiteracy for Population Aged 15
Years And Above, By Country And By Gender 1970-2015
http://www.uis.unesco.org/en/stats/statistics/UIS_Literacy_Country2002.xls
Here is a map of World Illiteracy rates - 2002
http://www.uis.unesco.org/en/stats/statistics/ed/map_illit_monde2000.jpg
Here is a graph of estimated world illiteracy rates by region and by gender - 2000
http://www.uis.unesco.org/en/stats/statistics/ed/g_%20all%20regions.jpg
Here is a graph of illiteracy rates of Arab States and North Africa
(selected countries) ? 2000
http://www.uis.unesco.org/en/stats/statistics/ed/g_lit_arab.jpg
Graph: 2000 Illiteracy rates - East Asia and the Pacific Gender
breakdown of illiteracy rates of selected countries in East Asia and
the Pacific
http://www.uis.unesco.org/en/stats/statistics/ed/g_lit_asia&pac.jpg
Graph: Gender breakdown of illiteracy rates of selected countries in Latin
America and the Caribbean - 2000
http://www.uis.unesco.org/en/stats/statistics/ed/g_lit_amerique%20latine.jpg
Graph: 2000 Illiteracy rates - South and West Asia
Gender breakdown of illiteracy rates of selected countries in South and West Asia
http://www.uis.unesco.org/en/stats/statistics/ed/g_lit_asia.jpg
Graph: 2000 Illiteracy rates - Sub-Saharan Africa
Gender breakdown of illiteracy rates of selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
http://www.uis.unesco.org/en/stats/statistics/ed/g_lit_afrique.jpg
Map: 2015 Illiteracy rates - World
A global overview of estimated illiteracy rates for the year 2015
http://www.uis.unesco.org/en/stats/statistics/ed/map_illit_monde2015.jpg
-------------------------------------
According to UNESCO, in the world today there are about 1 billion
non-literate adults.
?This 1 billion is approximately 26 percent of the world's adult population.
- Women make up two-thirds of all non-literates.
- 98 percent of all non-literates live in developing countries.
- In the least developed countries, the overall illiteracy rate is 49 percent.
- 52 percent of all non-literates live in India and China.
- Africa as a continent has a literacy rate of less than 60 percent.
- In Sub-Saharan Africa since 1980, primary school enrollment has
declined, going from 58 percent to 50 percent.
- In all developing countries, the percentage of children aged 6-11
not attending school is 15 percent. In the least developed countries,
it is 45 percent.(UNESCO 1998)?
(..)
?There is a correlation between income and illiteracy.?
- Per capita income in countries with a literacy rate less than 55
percent averages about $600
- Per capita income in countries with a literacy rate between 55 and
84 percent is $2,400
- Per capita income in countries with a literacy rate between 85 and
95 percent is $3,700
- Per capita income in countries with a literacy rate above 96 percent is $12,600.?
SIL International
http://www.sil.org/literacy/LitFacts.htm
======================================================
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe - UNECE
======================================================
Illiteracy
?In most of the UNECE member countries, illiteracy is below 1%. The
highest illiteracy rates in 2000 were in Albania (15.3) and Turkey
(15.0). In all countries (except Malta) there are more illiterate
women than men.
http://www.unece.org/stats/trend/ch3.htm
Countries with the Highest Illiteracy Rates
Rank Country Adult Illiteracy Rate
1 Niger 84.3%
2 Burkina Faso 77.0%
3 Afghanistan 63.7%
-- Sierra Leone 63.7%
5 Gambia, the 63.5%
6 Guinea-Bissau 63.2%
7 Senegal 62.7%
8 Benin 62.5%
9 Ethiopia 61.3%
10 Mauritania 60.1%
http://www.aneki.com/illiteracy.html
==========================
The Impact of Low Literacy
==========================
Poverty:
?Forty-three percent of adults at Level 1 were living in poverty,
compared to 4 percent of those at Level 5.?
Welfare:
?The likelihood of being on welfare goes up as literacy levels go
down. Three out of four food stamp recipients performed in the two
lowest literacy levels.?
Income:
?Adults at Level 1 earned a median income of $240 per week, compared
to $681 for those at Level 5.?
Employment Status:
?Adults at Level 1 worked an average of 19 weeks per year, compared to
44 weeks per year for those at Level 5.?
Crime:
?Seven in 10 prisoners performed in the lowest two literacy levels.?
South Carolina Literacy Resource Center
http://sclrc.org/NalsNarrative.htm
-------------------------------------
?There are more than 40 million functionally illiterate adults in the
U.S. That's 40 million adults who cannot fill out a job application,
write checks on their own, read a magazine, follow written
instructions, or read to their children.?
(..)
?According to the National Education Association, 41% of illiterates
are white, 22% are English-speaking African Americans, 22% are Spanish
speaking, and 15% are other non-English speaking peoples. Fifty-one
percent live in small towns, 41% in cities. Forty percent of these
adults are between the ages of 20 to 39, showing that illiteracy is a
problem that is not going away. Though found in all classes, the
majority are among the poor and those dependent on public financial
support, according to a study done by the Educational Testing
Service.?
Villagelife.org
http://www.villagelife.org/news/archives/func_illiterate.html
-------------------------------------
?According to the U.S. Department of Education, in 1994, 40% of
fourth-grade students failed to attain the basic level of reading on
the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Seventy percent did
not attain the proficient level.?
?In 1996, it was reported that among U.S. third graders, more than 40%
could not read independently. Studies show that if a student cannot
read proficiently by the third grade, their potential to learn is
severely diminished throughout the rest of their academic careers.?
Villagelife.org
http://www.villagelife.org/news/archives/learntoread.html
-------------------------------------
?Can you read and write was asked in the 1840 census. At that time,
more than 1 in every 5 persons were illiterate. The general illiteracy
rate decreased steadily over the years. Questions on illiteracy were
dropped in the 1940 Census.?
U.S. Census Bureau
http://www.census.gov/apsd/wepeople/we-11.pdf
============================================
Additional information that may interest you
============================================
The International Literacy Explorer website includes a section,
"Statistics on Literacy."
Literacy.org
http://literacy.org/explorer/statistics.html
At the following link you will find literacy assessment publications
provided by the National Center for Education Statistics.
http://nces.ed.gov/naal/resources/resources.asp#state
Literacy: Arthur Hu's Index of Diversity
http://www.arthurhu.com/index/literacy.htm
Search Criteria:
U.S. Illiteracy rates
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Adult Literacy Census
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I hope the above information helps you in your research. If anything
is unclear or if a link does not function, please let me know and I?ll
be glad to offer further assistance.
Best regards,
Bobbie7 |
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