How many U.S. citizens are literate?

Nationwide, on average, 79% of U.S. adults are literate in 2022. 21% of adults in the US are illiterate in 2022. 54% of adults have a literacy below sixth-grade level.

How many people in the US are functionally illiterate?

Illiteracy affects a person's ability to fully participate in and contribute to the world around them. About 18% of the US adult population is functionally illiterate.

What is America's literacy rate 2023?

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) found 79% of American adults have medium to high English literacy skills—described as literacy levels sufficient to compare and contrast information, paraphrase, and make low-level inferences.

Do 54% of Americans read below 6th grade level?

What does adult literacy look like in your state? 130 million Americans—54% of adults between the ages of 16 and 74 years old—lack proficiency in literacy, essentially reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level.

Why is the US literacy rate so low?

The burden of poverty places significant constraints on individuals' educational opportunities. Limited access to books, educational resources, and enrichment activities can hinder literacy development, perpetuating the cycle of low literacy rates within families and communities.

Why 36 million American adults can't read enough to work — and how to help them

Is literacy declining in the US?

Children as well as adults are facing the effects of the crisis: approximately 40% of students across the nation cannot read at a basic level, according to the National Literacy Institute. Of the low-income population of children in the U.S., almost 70% cannot read at a basic level.

What is the least literate state in the US?

California has the lowest literacy rate in the US, at 76.9%.

The bottom 5 states in the US by literacy rate include New York (77.9%), Florida (80.3%), Texas (81.0%), and New Jersey (83.1%).

What is Russia's literacy rate?

Literacy Rate in Russia (2010-2021, %)

The literacy rate reached 99.69% in 2021. Between 2010 to 2021, the literacy rate of Russia decreased by 0.02%. On a year-on-year basis, the literacy rate decreased slightly in 2021.

What percentage of China is illiterate?

China's literacy rate has increased from 66 percent in 1982 to 97.2 percent in 2020. A distinctive gap between gender literacy existed as early as 1982, but gender differences in literacy had become less significant by 2020.

What percentage of US citizens Cannot read?

21% of adults in the US are illiterate in 2022. 54% of adults have a literacy below sixth-grade level. 21% of Americans 18 and older are illiterate in 2022.

What percentage of America is functionally illiterate?

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), 21 percent of adults in the United States (about 43 million) fall into the illiterate/functionally illiterate category.

What qualifies as illiterate?

ignorant, illiterate, unlettered, untutored, unlearned mean not having knowledge. ignorant may imply a general condition or it may apply to lack of knowledge or awareness of a particular thing. illiterate applies to either an absolute or a relative inability to read and write.

Which country has highest literacy rate?

What US city has the highest literacy rate?

For the fourth straight year, Washington, D.C. is the most literate city in the United States, according to a recent study on literacy.

Why is California literacy rate so low?

Decades of underinvestment in schools, culture battles over bilingual education, and stark income inequality have made California the least literate state in the nation, as Capitol Weekly reported. Nearly 1 in 4 people over the age of 15 lack the skills to decipher the words in this sentence.

What is France's literacy rate?

The country boasts a 99 percent literacy rate. France's higher education history is lengthy. The University of Paris, one of the world's oldest universities, was founded in 1215. Prior to 1789, education was controlled by the Catholic Church.

Why so many American kids are struggling to read?

In short, children raised in poverty, those with limited proficiency in English, those from homes where the parents' reading levels and practices are low, and those with speech, language, and hearing handicaps are at increased risk of reading failure.

How serious is America's literacy problem?

In the United States, 54% of American adults read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level, and nearly one in five adults reads below a third-grade level. Lower literacy rates directly correlate to higher unemployment rates, reduced income, and overall impacts U.S. competitiveness on the global stage.

Do many Americans have poor health literacy?

Low health literacy is very common. Approximately 36% of adult Americans have only basic or below basic health literacy skills.