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EDUCATION INDICATORS: An International Perspective
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.
Table 10a: Percentage distribution of the population across
literacy levels, by country: 1994
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Country Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4/5 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
*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.
Table 10b: Percentage distribution of the population across literacy levels, by educational attainment and country: 1994
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
Table 10b: Percentage distribution of the population across literacy levels, by educational attainment and country: 1994-Continue
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
-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.
Table 10c: Percentage distribution of the population across literacy levels, by age and country: 1994
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 10c: Percentage distribution of the population across literacy levels, by age and country: 1994 -Continued
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-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.
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.
See Supplemental Notes on Figure and Tables
[Indicator 9]
[Indicator 11]
