EDUCATION INDICATORS: An International Perspective

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Indicator 10: Adult Literacy

In recent years, adult literacy has come to be seen as one of the fundamental tools necessary for successful economic performance in industrialized societies. Literacy is no longer defined merely in terms of a basic threshold of reading ability. As society becomes more complex and low-skill jobs continue to disappear, the concern about adults' ability to use written information to function in society continues to rise. For the purpose of this indicator, "literacy" is defined as the ability to understand and employ printed information in daily activitiesat home, at work, and in the communityto achieve one's goals and to develop one's knowledge and potential. Within countries, literacy levels are affected by both the quality and quantity of the population's formal education, as well as their participation in informal learning activities throughout their lives.

Sidebar: International adult literacy

• In 1994, compared with most of the countries assessed, the United States had a greater concentration of adults at the lowest levels of literacy across the prose, document, and quantitative literacy domains. Only in Poland did a greater proportion of the population score at level 1 across all three literacy domains. The United States also had one of the higher concentrations of adults at or above level 4 in all three literacy domains, but most noticeably in the prose domain.

• The proportion of adults at each literacy level was similar across the prose, document, and quantitative domains in Canada and the United States. In Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, however, the proportion of adults scoring at the highest literacy level was greater on the quantitative domain than on the prose domain.

• While in many other countries young adults had higher literacy levels than older adults, distribution of literacy proficiency across different age groups was fairly uniform in the United States, except for adults aged 56 to 65, who scored slightly below other groups. For example, the percentage of U.S. adults aged 26 to 35 scoring at or above level 4 on the prose domain was similar to the percentage of U.S. adults aged 46 to 55 scoring at that level (22 and 24 percent, respectively). In Germany, the younger group was almost twice as likely to score at or above level 4 as the older group (20 percent and 11 percent, respectively). Differences by age in Switzerland, Sweden, and the Netherlands were similar to those of Germany.

• As the level of education increases, the proportion of the population within each country at or above level 4 grows, and the proportion at level 1 decreases. For example, in Canada, 8 percent of those with a lower secondary level of education reached level 4 or above, compared with almost 60 percent of those with a university level of education.

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Table 10a: Percentage distribution of the population across
literacy levels, by country: 1994

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Country		       Level 1 Level 2 Level 3	Level 4/5
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				 Prose scale
G-7*
Canada			16.6	25.6	35.1	22.7
Germany			14.4	34.2	38.0	13.4
United States		20.7	25.9	32.4	21.1
Other
Netherlands		10.5	30.1	44.1	15.3
Poland                  42.6    34.5    19.8     3.1
Sweden                   7.5    20.3    39.7    32.4
Switzerland (French)	17.6	33.7	38.6	10.0
Switzerland (German)    19.3    35.7    36.1     8.9
				Document scale
G-7*
Canada			18.2	24.7	32.1	25.1
Germany                  9.0    32.7    39.5    18.9
United States		23.7	25.9	31.4	19.0
Other
Netherlands		10.1	25.7	44.2	20.0
Poland                  45.4    30.7    18.0     5.8
Sweden                   6.2    18.9    39.4    35.5
Switzerland (French)	16.2	28.8	38.9	16.0
Switzerland (German)	18.1	29.1	36.6	16.1
				Quantitative scale
G-7*				
Canada			16.9	26.1	34.8	22.2
Germany                  6.7    26.6    43.2    23.5
United States		21.0	25.3	31.3	22.5
Other
Netherlands		10.3	25.5	44.3	19.9
Poland                  39.1    30.1    23.9     6.8
Sweden                   6.6    18.6    39.0    35.8
Switzerland (French)	12.9	24.5	42.2	20.4
Switzerland (German)	14.2	26.2	40.7	19.0
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*No data available for France, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

NOTE: See supplemental note to Indicator 10 for descriptions of the literacy scales and
proficiency levels for the International Adult Literacy Survey.

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and Statistics Canada, Literacy, Economy, and Society: Results of the first International Adult Literacy Survey, 1995.

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Table 10b: Percentage distribution of the population across literacy levels, by educational attainment and country: 1994

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			Prose scale	Document scale	Quantitative scale
			-----------	--------------	------------------
			      Level 4 	        Level 4		 Level 4
Country		      Level 1 or above Level 1 or above	Level 1	or above
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
					Lower secondary
G-7*
Canada                  22.2    8.1     23.2    10.3   23.1      7.8
Germany			17.5	7.9	10.5	12.0	7.6	17.2
United States           44.7    2.8     45.2     5.9   44.7      4.5
Other	
Netherlands		11.9	4.9	11.2	8.8	11.9	10.9
Poland                  42.5    1.8     46.9    4.0     39.4     4.1
Sweden                   7.0   25.0     68.0   30.8      7.1    31.1
Switzerland (French)    28.9    0.0     31.1    2.1     22.6     4.0
Switzerland (German)    34.2    4.2     31.6   10.3     22.0    12.7
					Upper secondary
G-7*
Canada			10.0	19.5	10.5	24.1	8.8	16.6
Germany                  7.9    14.0     4.7    25.1    4.1     25.7
United States           16.9    13.9    21.2    12.6   18.4     14.5
Other
Netherlands              2.7    18.8     2.9    26.5    2.7     23.2
Poland                  24.9     2.3    27.8     6.8   20.9     10.1
Sweden                   5.7    31.1     3.9    34.9    4.8     34.8
Switzerland (French)    11.1     9.1     9.0    14.8    5.6     22.0
Switzerland (German)    11.0     9.8     9.7    16.5    6.9     19.2
				Higher education (nonuniversity)
G-7*
Canada                   4.4    27.7     4.2    39.1    4.2     26.4
Germany                  4.1    32.6     4.7    26.8    2.7     26.9
United States            9.5    25.8    11.7    24.0    8.8     26.8
Other
Netherlands		 -	 -	 -	 -	 -	 -
Poland                  11.8     8.6    16.4    12.1   15.5     11.1
Sweden                   1.4    45.8     1.1    50.1    0.6     46.3
Switzerland (French)     7.0    10.7     2.0    30.6    3.2     31.2
Switzerland (German)     6.8     9.0     5.1    20.9    3.7     27.9

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Table 10b: Percentage distribution of the population across literacy levels, by educational attainment and country: 1994-Continue

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	                Prose scale    Document scale  Quantitative scale
			-----------    --------------  ----------------------
		              Level 4           Level 4         Level 4
Country		     Level 1 or above  Level 1 or above	Level 1	or above
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Higher education (university)
G-7*
Canada			0.2	59.1	3.3	48.1	2.2	64.0
Germany			4.0	39.6	1.1	46.2	2.0	56.2
United States	 	4.9	47.5	6.7	41.1	4.9	51.8
Other	
Netherlands		1.3	34.5	1.3	34.9	1.7	39.3
Poland                 11.2     16.4   15.6     22.0    9.1     26.5
Sweden			0.7	60.7	0.7	61.4	1.0	63.7
Switzerland (French)	4.8	32.4	4.9	40.1	4.2	41.4
Switzerland (German)	6.7	25.5	6.8	38.4	6.8	38.9
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-Data not available. *No data available for France, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

NOTE: See supplemental note to Indicator 10 for descriptions of the literacy scales and proficiency levels for the International Adult Literacy Survey.

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and Statistics Canada, Literacy, Economy, and Society: Results of the first International Adult Literacy Survey, 1995.

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Table 10c: Percentage distribution of the population across literacy levels, by age and country: 1994

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			Prose scale      Document scale   Quantitative scale  
			-----------	---------------	  -------------------
                            Level 4            Level 4          Level 4
Country                Level 1 or above Level 1 or above Level 1 or above
					Age 16-25
G-7*
Canada                  10.7    19.9    10.4      31.0      10.1    16.7
Germany                  8.9    15.4     5.2      22.8       4.4    22.0
United States             -       -       -         -         -       -
Other
Netherlands              8.3    19.5     6.1      26.0       7.7    21.1
Poland                  26.7     5.9    32.2       8.5      29.6     6.7
Sweden                   3.8    39.7     3.1      40.7       4.9    38.4
Switzerland (French)    10.5    15.4     8.7      26.0       6.2    25.4
Switzerland (German)     7.3    13.8     7.1      26.3       6.9    22.9
					Age 26-35
G-7*
Canada                  12.3    26.1    13.5      27.5      12.0    27.5
Germany                 12.4    19.7     5.9      24.9       4.9    28.9
United States           19.6    21.6    21.6      21.0      20.1    23.5
Other	
Netherlands             6.4     22.5     5.9      29.3       6.7    28.2
Poland                 35.0      3.7    39.2       7.4      32.7     8.7
Sweden                  4.9     41.7     3.9      47.6       4.0    45.4
Switzerland (French)   11.1     13.0    11.5      21.6       8.8    22.9
Switzerland (German)   16.6     12.0    17.4      23.1      13.1    25.4
					Age 36-45
G-7*	
Canada                 13.3     31.3    13.8      27.4      11.9    30.1
Germany                14.5     14.5     9.5      21.4       6.5    26.3
United States          19.5     29.2    23.5      25.4      18.2    31.6
Other	
Netherlands             8.6     14.3     9.2      17.1      10.1    18.9
Poland                 42.0      2.8    42.6       5.7      36.1     8.4
Sweden                  7.1     31.7     6.6      35.4       7.0    35.2
Switzerland (French)   22.1      8.9    19.2      13.7      16.6    21.8
Switzerland (German)   24.2      9.1    21.5      12.0      19.0    16.9
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Table 10c: Percentage distribution of the population across literacy levels, by age and country: 1994 -Continued

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                      Prose scale   Document scale  Quantitative scale
			 -----------   --------------  ------------------  
                          Level 4           Level 4        Level 4
Country               Level 1 or above Level 1 or above Level 1 or above
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
					Age 46-55
G-7*	
Canada			20.6	18.4	23.0	22.4	23.9	19.0
Germany                 14.2    10.9     7.4    14.5     7.0    24.7
United States		18.3	23.8	21.4	17.3	19.0	23.6
Other
Netherlands             13.9     9.8    12.6    13.7    12.8    16.4
Poland                  53.5     1.0    55.6     4.1    47.7     5.9
Sweden                   8.2    28.2     6.8    30.3     5.8    34.0
Switzerland (French)    20.9     7.9    18.0     9.7    16.1    18.0
Switzerland (German)    19.4     4.2    21.0    10.2    14.8    15.5
					Age 56-65
G-7*	
Canada                  37.6    8.1     43.8    8.7     39.7     7.4
Germany			22.1	4.7	17.7	8.8	10.8	13.5
United States           23.6   14.7     29.3   11.7     22.4    16.0
Other	
Netherlands             20.1    4.7     22.6    6.8     17.6     9.3
Poland                  69.5    0.2     70.1    1.4     60.8     2.2
Sweden                  15.9   16.2     12.2   18.5     12.9    22.6
Switzerland (French)	27.7	2.3	27.5	4.6	19.2	11.0
Switzerland (German)	30.4	4.1	22.8	6.7	15.8	10.8
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-Data is inaccurate due to problems with sampling this age group and nonresponse. *No data available for France, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

NOTE: See supplemental note to Indicator 10 for descriptions of the literacy scales and proficiency levels for the International Adult Literacy Survey.

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and Statistics Canada, Literacy, Economy, and Society: Results of the first International Adult Literacy Survey, 1995.

Figure 10a: Percentage distribution of the population across literacy levels, by country:1,2 1994

1/ Data not available for France, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

2/ Countries are sorted in descending order by percentage of the population at literacy levels 4/5 (prose scale only).

NOTE: This chart reads as follows: on the prose scale, 32 percent of adults in Sweden reached level 4 or higher, 72 percent reached level 3 or higher, 92 percent reached level 2 or higher, and 100 percent reached level 1 or higher. For corresponding numbers, see table 10a.

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and Statistics Canada, Literacy, Economy, and Society: Results of the first International Adult Literacy Survey, 1995.

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Figure 10b: Percentage distribution of the population across literacy levels (prose scale), by age and country:1,2 1994

1/ Data not available for France, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
2/ Countries are sorted in descending order by percentage of the 26- to 35-year-olds' population in literacy levels
4 and 5 (prose scale only).

NOTE: The chart reads as follows: Almost 42 percent of adults aged 26_35 from Sweden attained level 4 or higher on the prose literacy scale, and another 53 percent reached levels 2 or 3. For corresponding numbers, see table 10c.

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and Statistics Canada, Literacy, Economy, and Society: Results of the first International Adult Literacy Survey, 1995.

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See Supplemental Notes on Figure and Tables

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[Indicator 9] [Indicator 11]