Percentage of adults age 16 or older in each prose, document, and quantitative literacy achievement level, by selected characteristics: 2003

Adult Literacy

Table 18-2. Percentage of adults age 16 or older in each prose, document, and quantitative literacy achievement level, by selected characteristics: 2003

	Prose				Document				Quantitative
Characteristic	Below Basic	Basic	Inter- mediate	Proficient	Below Basic	Basic	Inter- mediate	Proficient	Below Basic	Basic	Inter- mediate	Proficient

Total	14	29	44	13	12	22	53	13	22	33	33	13
Sex
Male	15	29	43	13	14	23	51	13	21	31	33	16
Female	12	29	46	14	11	22	54	13	22	35	32	11

Race/ethnicity¹
White	7	25	51	17	8	19	58	15	13	32	39	17
Black	24	43	31	2	24	35	40	2	47	36	15	2
Hispanic	44	30	23	4	36	26	33	5	50	29	17	4
Asian/Pacific Islander	14	32	42	12	11	22	54	13	19	34	35	12

Age
16–18	11	37	48	5	11	24	56	9	28	38	28	6
19–24	11	29	48	12	9	20	58	13	21	36	33	10
25–39	12	25	45	18	8	19	56	17	17	31	35	17
40–49	11	27	47	15	10	20	54	15	19	32	34	16
50–64	13	27	44	15	12	23	54	12	19	30	34	17
65 or older	23	38	34	4	27	33	38	3	34	37	24	5

Language spoken before starting school²
English only	9	27	49	15	9	21	56	13	18	33	35	15
English and Spanish	14	38	42	6	12	29	54	5	31	39	26	4
English and other language	7	33	51	9	10	25	57	8	15	38	34	14
Spanish	61	25	13	1	49	25	23	3	62	25	11	2
Other language	26	33	34	7	20	24	46	10	28	33	29	10

Education
Still in high school	14	37	45	4	13	24	54	9	31	38	25	5
Less than/some high school	50	33	16	1	45	29	25	2	64	25	10	1
GED/high school equivalency	10	45	43	3	13	30	53	4	26	43	28	3
High school graduate	13	39	44	4	13	29	52	5	24	42	29	5
Vocational/trade/business school	10	36	49	5	9	26	59	7	18	41	35	6
Some college	5	25	59	11	5	19	65	10	10	36	43	11
Associate’s/2-year degree	4	20	56	19	3	15	66	16	7	30	45	18
College graduate	3	14	53	31	2	11	62	25	4	22	43	31
Graduate studies/degree	1	10	48	41	1	9	59	31	3	18	43	36

¹Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. In 1992, respondents were allowed to identify only one race; in 2003, respondents were allowed to identify multiple races. Included in the total but not shown separately are American Indians/Alaska Natives and respondents with more than one race.
²The “English and Spanish” category includes adults who spoke only English and Spanish as well as adults who spoke English, Spanish, and another language(s). The “Spanish” category includes adults who spoke only Spanish as well as adults who spoke Spanish and another non-English language(s). The “Other language” category includes only adults who spoke neither English nor Spanish.
NOTE: Adults are defined as people age 16 or older living in households or prisons. Prose literacy is the knowledge and skills needed to perform prose tasks (i.e., to search, comprehend, and use information from continuous texts, such as paragraphs from stories); document literacy is the knowledge and skills needed to perform document tasks (i.e., to search, comprehend, and use information from noncontinuous texts in various formats, such as bills or prescription labels); and quantitative literacy is the knowledge and skills required to perform quantitative tasks (i.e., to identify and perform computations, either alone or sequentially, using numbers embedded in printed materials).
SOURCE: Kutner, M., Greenberg, E., and Baer, J. (2005). A First Look at the Literacy of America’s Adults in the 21st Century (NCES 2006-470), figures 2, 5–10, 12, 13, 15, 16, and table 8, data from U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL).

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