What Is Illiteracy?

Illiteracy, according to the United Nations, is the inability to read and write a simple sentence in any language. In 1998, figures showed that 16% of the world population is illiterate (using the UN definition).

In the UK, seven million residents are illiterate, according to government figures. In developed countries, there is the problem of the rise of secondary and tertiary illiteracy in recent years, which is the partial or complete loss of previously existing reading and writing skills due to lack of practice.

In the Arab states, more than 25% of men and 50% of women were not illiterate as of 2000. A likely reason for low levels of literacy is lack of education.

Illiteracy is widespread in India and as of the 2001 census, the literacy rate was only 65.5%, with 34.5% of India being illiterate. India's illiteracy is partly due to its colonial history.

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