Adult literacy and economic and social development: Prepared by UNESCO

Abstract

In 18 countries with a total population of 635 million (with 259 million illiterate) less than 3 per cent of adults were attending literacy classes in i960. In the same year, out of £06 million children of school age in 35 countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America only 110 million were attending primary school. A very-largo proportion of these leave school before becoming effectively literate, and many who complete the course return to largely illiterate communities or have no opportunities to use their knowledge and relapse into illiteracy. Some twenty to twenty-five million new illiterates are probably added to the adult population every year, and in a number of countries the total number of illiterates is still increasing as population growth outpaces the expansion of the school system