LITERACY

“The ability of people to read and write a

simple message in any language with some
understanding”.

-United Nations
 The invention of written language have occurred in ancient Sumer
around 3,600 BC (Murphy, 1970).

 Non-literate: Societies that existed prior to the invention of

written language are called non-literate.

 Pre-literate: Even after the invention of written language, at

present times, there are societies that have never encountered any
written language. The people of such societies are referred to as
pre-literate.

 People in societies that otherwise have written language, but due

to one or the other reason, who do not possess the ability to read
and write are known as unliterate.
 Functional literacy: To function effectively in the modern
societies, a person must be able to read newspaper, magazines
and books of non-specialized nature with fair amount of
understanding. He should also be in a position to write legible
letters or comparable statements. This level of competence is
referred to as functional literacy.

 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO) assumes functional literacy as
normal consequence of four or more years of formal
education.
Problems of literacy data
 Census counting are not regular.

 Quality of data in the underdeveloped parts of the world poor.

 In some countries, population below 5, 10 or 15 years of age is

ignored while computing the proportion of literate in the
population.
 In India, from 1991 onwards , population in the age group 0-6
years is excluded while calculating the literacy rate.

 The UNESCO Institute of Statistic publishes data on literacy rate

for different countries of the world for population aged 15 and
above.
Importance of literacy

 Illiteracy results in stagnation of technology, social and

cultural lags, weakens national security, and overall
stagnation of the economic progress.

 Illiteracy in a society is primarily an obstacle to

peaceful and friendly international relations and to
democratic processes within a country (Murphy, 1970).
DETERMINANTS OF

LITERACY
 THE LITERACY TRANSITION

The various nations of the world can be classified into

three distinct categories.

First, those which have completed the transition.

Second, those, which are in the midst of the transition.

Third, those where the transition has just begun.

First category includes-
North America, Europe (including erstwhile USSR),
Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Argentina.

Second category includes-

India, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Brazil,
Mexico, Iran etc.

Third category includes-

Islamic World of West Asia
Davis (1955) observed that if the rate of literacy
transition was low, the economic development
slowed down, while the economic development was
rapid if the literacy transition was fast.
 Political/i
Availabilit Public deological
y of backgroun Type of
policies
education d economy
al
institution
s
Prejudices Standard
against the of living
female
mobility
and
education
LITERACY Degree of
urbanisatio
n
Status of
women in
the society
Stage of
Degree of technologica
development of l
Medium advancemen
means of
of Religious t
transportation
instructio background and
n
communication
1. Political/ideological background

The ex-colonial countries are at a low level of

literacy because the colonising countries did
not do much for social development of their
colonies.
2. Type of economy

The requirements of the non-agricultural

economy are such that acquisition of literacy
skills becomes a functional prerequisite.
On the other hand, the agricultural
operations, particularly in the less developed
world, are such as these do not have any
demand on education.
3. Standard of living

In less developed countries where

education is not free and the cost of
education is high, the cost of imparting
education to the children becomes an
important determinant of literacy.
4. Degree of urbanisation

The type of economy and the social set up

of urban areas is such that the literacy
skills have greater functional utility,
whereas in the countryside the various
occupations do not warrant literacy as a
prerequisite.
5. Stage of technological advancement

While in case of highly technological advanced

countries, literacy and education may be a pre-
requiste for getting employment, it may not be so
in case of the technologically less advance
countries.
6. Degree of development of means of transportation
and communication
7. Religious background

8. Medium of instruction

9. Status of women in the society

10. Prejudices against the female mobility and education

11. Availability of educational institutions

12. Public policies

LITERACY DIFFERENTIALS
On the basis of the stage of literacy transition, the
various nations could be classified into three
types of areas having almost universal literacy,
moderate literacy and low literacy.

 Males and females, rural and urban areas,

various population sub-groups.
In literacy transition is in its infancy stage (low
literacy) –

 Literacy by sex, by residency, by ethnic status etc.

In the midst of literacy transition (moderate

literacy)-

 Occupational structure
World Literacy Patterns
Estimates on literacy in some selected countries of the world/major division, 2001
Adult Literacy Rate
Countries/Major Divisions
All persons Female Education Index
UK 99.0 99.0 0.99
France 99.0 99.0 0.96
Germany 99.0 99.0 0.96
US 99.0 99.0 0.97
Canada 99.0 99.0 0.97
Australia 99.0 99.0 0.99
New Zealand 99.0 99.0 0.99
Russian Fed. 99.6 99.4 0.93
Japan 99.0 99.0 0.94
Singapore 92.5 88.7 0.87
Thailand 95.7 94.1 0.88
Mexico 91.4 89.5 0.86
Brazil 87.3 87.2 0.9
Argentina 96.9 96.9 0.94
Saudi Arabia 77.1 68.2 0.71
Sri Lanka 91.9 89.3 0.82
Iran 77.1 70.2 0.73
South Africa 85.6 85.0 0.83
India 58.0 46.4 0.57
China 85.8 78.7 0.79
Pakistan 44.0 28.8 0.41
Bangladesh 40.6 30.8 0.45
Nepal 42.9 25.2 0.5
Nigeria 65.4 57.7 0.59
Mali 26.4 16.6 0.27
Burkina Faso 24.8 14.9 0.24
Niger 16.5 8.9 0.17
Developing countries 74.5 67.1 0.70
Less developed countries 53.3 43.8 0.50
HIGH INCOME 0.96
WORLD 77.1 0.75
 The global literacy rate for all people aged 15
and above is 86.3%.

 The global literacy rate for all males is 90.0%

and the rate for all females is 82.7%.

 The rate varies throughout the world with

developed nations having a rate of 99.2%
(2013); Oceania having 71.3%;
 South and West Asia having 70.2% (2015) and
 sub-Saharan Africa at 64.0% (2015).
 Over 75% of the world's 781 million illiterate
adults are found in South Asia, West Asia and
sub-Saharan Africa and women represent
almost two-thirds of all illiterate adults globally.

 More males are literate than females.

 One comes across a much sharper sex

differential in literacy in the LDCs.
 World's Literacy Rate: 2015
92
13.7 Literates
90.0
90

88
86.3
86
86.3

84
82.7
82

80

78
All persons Female Male
 Literacy Rate: 2015
120

99.2
100
86.3
80
71.3 70.2
64.0
60

40

20

0
World Developed Oceania South and Sub-Saharan
world West Asia Africa
 Literacy Rate: 2015
100.2
100 100
100

99.8

99.6

99.4

99.2
99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99
99

98.8

98.6

98.4
 Literacy Rate: 2015

100
All
persons 98.1 98.1
98 97.2

96 95.7
94.5
94.0
94 93.5
92.6
92 91.7
91.2

90

88

86
Singapore Thailand Mexico Brazil Argentina
 Adult Literacy Rates: 2015
100
All persons Female
90 87.2
80.2
80
72.76
69.9
70
63.49
59.6
60
53.1
49.7
50

40
33.1
30
22.2
19.1
20
11.0
10

0
Bangladesh Nepal Nigeria Mali Niger Iran
 Adult Literacy Rates Across Asia
Gender
Country Literacy rate (all) Male literacy Female literacy
difference
Korea 100.0 100.0 100.0 0.0

Armenia 99.8 99.8 99.7 0.1

Azerbaijan 99.8 99.9 99.7 0.2

Georgia 99.8 99.8 99.7 0.1

Kazakhstan 99.8 99.8 99.8 0.0

Russia 99.7 99.7 99.7 0.0

Kyrgyzstan 99.5 99.6 99.4 0.2

Maldives 99.3 99.8 98.8 0.9

Cyprus 99.1 99.5 98.7 0.8

Mongolia 98.4 98.2 98.6 -0.4

 Adult Literacy Rates Across Asia

Literacy rate Gender

Country Male literacy Female literacy
(all) difference
Qatar 97.8 97.9 97.3 0.6
Jordan 96.7 98.1 95.2 3.0
Brunei
96.4 97.7 95.1 2.6
Darussalam
China 96.4 98.2 94.5 3.7
Philippines 96.3 95.8 96.8 -1.0
Kuwait 96.2 96.9 95.0 1.9
Bahrain 95.7 96.9 93.5 3.5
Oman 94.8 96.9 90.0 6.9
Saudi Arabia 94.7 97.0 91.1 5.9
Malaysia 94.6 96.2 93.2 3.0
Indonesia 93.9 96.3 91.5 4.7
Lebanon 93.9 96.0 91.8 4.1
 Adult Literacy Rates Across Asia

Literacy rate Gender

Country Male literacy Female literacy
(all) difference
Burma
93.1 95.2 91.2 4.0
(Myanmar)
Iran 86.8 91.2 82.5 8.7
Laos 79.9 87.1 72.8 14.3
Iraq 79.7 85.7 73.7 11.9
Cambodia 77.2 84.5 70.5 13.9
India 72.1 80.9 62.8 18.1
Timor 67.5 71.5 63.4 8.1
Bhutan 64.9 73.1 55.0 18.1
Nepal 64.7 75.6 55.1 20.5
Bangladesh 61.5 64.6 58.5 6.1
Pakistan 56.4 69.6 42.7 26.9
Afghanistan 38.2 52.0 24.2 27.8
 Adult Literacy Rates:
India and neighbouring countries

Country Literacy Rate Male Female

China 95.1 97.5 92.7
Burma 89.9 93.9 86.4
Saudi Arabia 86.6 90.4 81.3
Iran 85.0 89.3 80.7
Bangladesh 78.8 81.3 75.2
Iraq 78.2 86.0 70.6
India 74.04 80.9 63.0
Afghanistan 28.1 43.1 12.6