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Just
2% of global adults read at top level
Read
it and weep: After decades of reporting five levels of literacy, the largest
adult literacy study in the world has dropped the top level.
The reason: Just 2% of adults worldwide — barely enough to count — performed at Level 5. So researchers combined it with Level 4 in their most recent report.
Welcome to the world of literacy today, according to the latest Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, or PIAAC.
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Most read at basic or below-basic literacy levels.
Most read at basic or below-basic literacy levels.
Some
52% of all Americans (global literacy rate: 49%) have basic or below-basic
reading skills.
Most of them can sign forms, compare ticket prices for two events and look up shows in a TV guide. Most cannot find places on a map, calculate the cost of office supplies from a catalog and compare viewpoints in two editorials.
4% are nonliterate.
Some
4% of Americans (global literacy rate: 3%) have Below Level 1 literacy. That
means they are nonliterate. They can’t read well enough to perform activities
of daily living in a modern society — let alone to take a literacy test.
14%
have below-basic literacy levels.
14% of Americans (global literacy rate: 12%) have level 1 literacy. That means they can read and write at the below-basic, or first- to third-grade level.
14% of Americans (global literacy rate: 12%) have level 1 literacy. That means they can read and write at the below-basic, or first- to third-grade level.
Most
of them can identify which candidate earned the fewest votes from a simple
table identifying three candidates and the number of votes they received.
Most cannot count the number of countries in which the generic drug market accounts for 10% or more of drug sales from two paragraphs and a chart of generic drug use in 15 countries.
34%
have basic literacy levels.
About
one-third of Americans (global literacy rate: 34%) have Level 2 literacy. That
means they can read and write at a basic, or fourth- to fifth-grade level.
Ladies
and gentlemen,
please note that at this point,
we have reached more than half
of your audience.
Are
you smart enough to write for a fourth-grader?
36%
have intermediate literacy levels.
More
than one-third of Americans (global literacy rate: 39%) have Level 3 literacy.
That means they can read and write at an intermediate, or sixth- to eighth-grade
level.
Most
can identify the link leading to the organization’s phone number from a website
with several links, including “contact us” and “FAQ.”
But most cannot click to the second page of search results from a library website to identify the author of a book called Ecomyth.
12%
have proficient literacy levels.
Now
we reach the cognitively elite: 12% of Americans (global literacy rate: 12%)
have what is now called Level 4/5 literacy.
At
Level 4, that means they can read and write at a proficient, or ninth- to
10th-grade level. Yup, just 12% of Americans can read at what we consider the
high school literacy level.
Most can click to the second page of search results from a library website to identify the author of a book called Ecomyth.
But most cannot review search results from a library website to identify a book suggesting that the claims made both for and against genetically modified foods are unreliable.
Note
that if you write for these proficient readers,
you’ll miss 88% of adults in
the United States.
2%
have college literacy levels.
This
year, for the first time ever, PIAAC combined the fourth and fifth literacy
levels. That’s because there were no longer enough people at the highest level,
or 11th-grade and up, to count.
This is the only group that can identify from search results a book suggesting that the claims made both for and against generically modified foods are unreliable.
International
Ongoing
Progress
in International Reading Literacy Study, PIRLS
Program
for International Student Assessment, PISA
Programme
for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, PIAAC
2019: Economic
& Social Cost of Illiteracy: A snapshot of illiteracy . .
. World
Literacy Foundation
2019:
Graphic Truth: Changes in Global Literacy Over Time, GZERO
Media
2017:
Literacy Rates Continue to Rise . . . , UNESCO
Fact Sheet No. 45:
2016:
Human Development Index, UNDP
2015: *Economic
& Social Cost of Illiteracy: A snapshot of illiteracy . .
. World
Literacy Foundation
2012: Economic
& Social Cost of Illiteracy: A snapshot of illiteracy . .
. World
Literacy Foundation
2006: Literacy
for Life, Global
Monitoring Report, UNESCO
2003-12: Literacy
Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE), UNESCO
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