Data on Illiteracy in the U.S. and Around the World

The Global Perspective

A 1997 survey of international adult literacy found that among adults in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the U.S. has more adults with the lowest levels of literacy skills than any of the other countries except Poland.

Source:
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Statistics Canada, Literacy in the Information Age: Final Report of the International Adult Literacy Survey. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2000.

The National Perspective

The National Literacy Act of 1991 defines literacy as “an individual’s ability to read, write, and speak in English, and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one’s goals, and develop one’s knowledge and potential."

According to this same Act,

1. nearly 30,000,000 adults in the United States have serious problems with literacy;
2. literacy problems are intergenerational and closely associated with poverty and pose a major threat to the economic well-being of the United States;
3. present public and private literacy programs reach only a small portion of the population in need and often result in only minimal learning gains;
4. the prevention of illiteracy is essential to stem further growth in national illiteracy rates;
5. literacy programs generally lack adequate funding, adequate coordination with other literacy programs, and an adequate investment in teacher training and technology;
6. access to better information about the best practices in the literacy field and more research in order to provide better diagnostic and instructional tools are essential for the improvement of literacy and employability in the United States;
7. as many as 50,000,000 workers may have to be trained or retrained before the year 2000;
8. the supply of unskilled workers is increasing while the demand for unskilled labor is decreasing;
9. programs under the Adult Education Act, which are the largest Federal source of direct literacy services in the United States, serve only 10 percent of eligible participants; and
10. all public and private literacy programs serve only about 19 percent of those who need help.

Source:
The National Literacy Act of 1991. Public Law 102-73. 102nd Congress, 1st session. July 25, 1991.

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