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International Literacy
Across the world, the need to improve literacy remains critical. According to the UNESCO-sponsored Education for All 2000 Assessment, more than 113 million children around the world have no access to primary education. In addition, 880 million adults, the majority of whom are women, are illiterate. The Dakar Framework for Action, drafted by participants in the 2000 World Education Forum, recognized significant progress in many countries, but also insisted that
"…all children, young people and adults have the human right to benefit from an education that will meet their basic learning needs in the best and fullest sense of the term…."
By contrast, there is virtually no adult illiteracy in the US. The most recent statistics available from the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) found that only four percent of adults could not perform even the simplest literacy tasks on the survey. The survey also found that approximately 21 percent of adults had only rudimentary literacy skills, and 18 percent had high literacy skills. The results of the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) also show that the US has more adults at both ends of the literacy spectrum than other industrialized countries.
For more information on international literacy statistics and information and for comparisons between the US and other countries, click on the links below.