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A basic overview of the progress made and room for improvement

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Which countries struggle with adult literacy the most?

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Which countries struggle with adult literacy the most?

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1. Respondents reported their literacy level as

part of a census questionnaire or survey

instrument (self-declaration).

2. Another individual – typically, the head of the

household – reported on the literacy level of

household members (third-party assessment).

3. The number of years of schooling completed

was used as a proxy measure to distinguish the ‘literate’ from the ‘non-literate’ (educational

attainment proxy)

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Impeding EFA: Interpretations of 'Literacy'

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Impeding EFA: Interpretations of 'Literacy'

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Local: Brief explanations of how different countries define literacy

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1. Literacy as  an autonomous set of skills
2. Literacy as applied, practiced, and situated
3. Literacy as a learning process
4. Literacy as text.

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How were the countries faring in reaching adult literacy goals in 2006?

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Individual countries and their status in 2006.

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REDUCTION OF THE ADULT ILLITERACY RATE BY ONE HALF WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON FEMALE LITERACY

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Methodologies Used for Measuring Literacy

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Methodologies Used for Measuring Literacy

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An interactive map

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The figure illustrates how literacy rates have been recorded by countries over time. Methodologies include self declarations by individuals or other household members, literacy tests, and indirect estimates (e.g. by assuming literacy from educational attainment).

Interactive visualization requires JavaScript

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Methodologies used for measuring literacy

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The figure illustrates how literacy rates have been recorded by countries over time. Methodologies include self declarations by individuals or other household members, literacy tests, and indirect estimates (e.g. by assuming literacy from educational attainment). Interactive visualization requires JavaScript

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How to tell is someone may be struggling with illiteracy, but may be unwilling to admit it.

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Takeaways

Adult literacy rates have been improving year on year since 1950.

The vast majority of illiterate adults live in Sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia.

The number of illiterate adults in the world is equal to more than double the population of the United States.

1. The global literacy rate for adults is 84%, according to UNESCO data.

2. This means that there are 781 million adults worldwide - or about one in every ten people on the planet - who cannot read or write a simple message.

3. In percentage terms, however, the global literacy rate has increased dramatically over the last several decades - from 56% in 1950 to 76% in 1990.

4. Progress since 2000, when the global literacy rate was 82%, has been relatively slow.

5. Much of the recent progress has come in South and West Asia, where since 1990 the adult literacy rate has increased from 47% to 63%.

6. For South and West Asia's young people, the gains have been even greater - from 61% to 81%.

7. About 597 million of the world's illiterate population live in Sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia. That is 76% of all the illiterate people in the world.

The Upshot:

Ten of the 11 countries in the world with adult literacy rates of less than 50% are in Sub-Saharan Africa. This underscores the region's dire lack of economic development and educational resources. Haiti is the one outside of Africa.

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics with analysis by The Globalist Research Center.

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8 Facts: Adult Literacy Rates - The Globalist

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Adult literacy rates have been improving year on year since 1950. The vast majority of illiterate adults live in Sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia. The number of illiterate adults in the world is equal to more than double the population of the United States. 1.

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Country-by-country tracking of literacy rates among children vs. adults

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This chart is part of a collection of research. For more information, see Literacy.

In all countries below the grey line the youth (those aged 15-24) have higher literacy rates than the older population (those aged 65+)

Interactive visualization requires JavaScript

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Literacy rates of the the younger population (15-24 years) versus literacy rates of the older population (65+)

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This chart is part of a collection of research. For more information, see Literacy. In all countries below the grey line the youth (those aged 15-24) have higher literacy rates than the older population (those aged 65+) Interactive visualization requires JavaScript

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Clearly, Education for All is working among young children since much of the emphasis has been placed on universal primary schooling.

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What percent of each country's population were literate by the 2015 goal?

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A personal story of the challenges in admitting illiteracy

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Prevalence of illiteracy in our highly literate society

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Documentary Trailer: Secret Lives of Americans on Adult Education in America for ProLiteracy

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A Brochure with concise infographics describing the literacy crisis in our own country.

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Personal testimonies of life pre- and post-literacy locally.

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Please note the amount of time spent on children's education in comparison to adult literacy.

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Just one third of countries have achieved all of the measurable Education for All (EFA) goals set in 2000. Only half of all countries have achieved the most watched goal of universal primary enrolment. An extra $22 billion a year is needed on top of already ambitious government contributions in order to ensure we achieve the new education targets now being set for the year 2030.
These are the key findings of the 2015 EFA Global Monitoring Report (GMR) “Education for All 2000-2015: Achievements and Challenges”, produced by UNESCO which has tracked progress on these goals for the past 15 years.

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How Do We Track Global Education Progress?

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How Do We Track Global Education Progress?

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2021/2 GEM Report - Non-state actors in education
Read More

Credit: Joris Vens/Super Formosa Photography

of total education spending

is covered by households in low- and lower-middle-income countries

in 34 middle- and high-income countries would prefer more public spending on education

of families

borrow to pay for education in low-income countries

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Read More Credit: Joris Vens/Super Formosa Photography is covered by households in low- and lower-middle-income countries in 34 middle- and high-income countries would prefer more public spending on education borrow to pay for education in low-income countries

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1. More opportunities to use literacy skills
2. More accurate methods of data collection and increased data collection in select countries.
3. Treating literacy as a scale rather than completely literate or illiterate.
2. Mobile devices could potentially increase literacy

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1. Global: Millennium Development Goals (MDG) made no mention of goals to increase adult literacy.
2. Global: Governments had been focusing on mass adult literacy campaigns in the 1970s and 1980s, but they were replaced when emphasis shifted to universal primary schooling.

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Two main household survey programs
1) Demographic and Health Survey (DHS)
2) Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS)

Additional measuring in US LAMP
1) Prose reading
2) Document reading
3) Numeracy

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1. Global: It is difficult to assess progress in literacy when definitions of literacy are changing.
2. Local: There are even more illiterate than previously believed because they misreported on self-reported surveys.
3. Local: External monitoring may result in reportedly higher rates due to pressure.
4. Local: Language of campaigns usually portrays illiteracy as 'social illness', which can lead to people hiding their problems.

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Facilitating EFA: Efforts to Improve Literacy

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Facilitating EFA: Efforts to Improve Literacy

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1. Global commitment to adult literacy
--In 2002, the UN declared 2003-2012 United Nations Literacy Decade
--The World Bank launched STEP (Skills Toward Employment and Productivity)
2. Local literacy campaigns/programs
--The US initiated LAMP (Literary Assessment and Monitoring Program) with three level of attainment
3. Local policies on multilingualism
--Mexico has a program for bilingual learners and another for monolingual indigenous speakers
4. Environments requiring better skills

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"Vehicle to empower people and help them obtain adequate life skills and entrepreneurship capacities" (World Monitoring EFA 2000-2015, p.136)

Traditional UNESCO definition: "the ability to read and/or write, with understanding, a simple short statement on everyday life" (Education for All Global Monitoring Report, 2006, p.64).

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1. Literacy is now viewed more often as a continuum.
2. Realization of the importance of teaching in the local, indigenous languages.
--Since 2000, conditions have been more favorable to learn in mother tongues.

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1. There are 781 million illiterate adults worldwide
2. Women account for 64% of the adults worldwide that cannot read and write with understanding.
3. Kuwait had an 83% illiteracy rate
4. Nepal was the outlier in consistent growth in women's literacy
5. Papa New Guinea has 838 languages

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1. Progress has been made to gender parity in adult literacy, but it has not reached UNESCO's goal.
--Women in the same age group either stayed stagnant or even declined in literacy due to not utilizing their previously acquired skills.
2. Change in daily lives has not made a strong push to increase literacy.
3. According to the 2006 report, twenty-three countries stood a fairly high chance of meeting goal 4, as their literacy rates were already relatively high and increasing quite quickly.
4. According to the 2006 report, thirty countries were at serious risk of not achieving the goal by 2015 because their very low literacy rates were not increasing fast enough. Most of these countries are in Africa, but the list also includes India, Nepal and Pakistan, and several Latin American countries.

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Observed improvement in literacy rates might be due to the fact that younger, educated people are leaving the younger age bracket and being accounted for in an older age bracket, not necessarily that more older people are learning to read because of literacy campaigns/programs.