About adult literacy

There are, officially, 771 million adults in the world, two-thirds of them women, who are classified as “illiterate”. Almost two thirds are women, and nearly 1 in 5 is a young person between 15 and 24.

But these figures are notoriously underestimated, and sample studies based on actual tests of reading and writing ability have found illiteracy rates double those reported by governments. The real number of adults without basic literacy skills may be as high as two billion, or one in three of the world’s people. Many more than that number struggle to read and write well enough to function properly within their society.

Source: Report "Writing the Wrongs. International Benchmarks on Adult Literacy"