Facts about literacy
 Literacy is the ability to read, write, compute, and use technology at a level that enables a person to reach his or her full potential as a parent, employee and a member of our community.
There are 774 million adults around the world who are illiterate in their native languages.
Two-thirds of the world’s illiterate adults are women.
In the U.S., 30 million people over the age of 16 --14% of the country’s adults population-- don’t read well enough to understand a newspaper article written at an eighth level or even fill out a job application.
The United States ranks fifth on adult literacy when compared to the other industrialized countries.
Low literacy in adults can be connected to almost every socio-economic issue in the United States:
More than 60 % of all state and federal inmates can barely read and write.
Low health literacy costs the United States between $106 -$238 BILLION each
year-- 7-17% of all annual personal health care spending.
Low literacy’s effects cost the United States $225 billion each year in loss productivity in the work force. This also results in crime and loss of tax revenue
because of unemployment.
Globally, illiteracy can be linked to:
Gender abuse, including female infanticide.
Extreme poverty.
High infant mortality, the spread of HIV?AIDS, malaria and other preventable infectious diseases.
To help with these problems: call Branch County Literacy at 517-279-9833. |
