United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Other Small States was 86.25975 % of People Ages 15 and Above in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Other Small States reached a record high of 86.25975 in January of 2023 and a record low of 71.82288 in January of 1983. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Other Small States - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on August of 2025.

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• The Healthcare IT market size is expected to be worth around USD 1728 Bn by 2032
• According to a report by UNESCO, countries in South and South-West Asia have the highest number of illiterate adults in the world, estimated at 388 million.
• Approximately 36% of adult Americans possess only basic or below basic health literacy skills.
• Only 12% of Americans are considered proficient in their health literacy skills.
• Health literacy levels in China increased from 6.48% of the population in 2008 to 23.15% in 2020.
• A recent study analyzing global health literacy research from 1995 to 2020 identified the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom as major contributors to the international collaboration network on health literacy.
• Mental health has been the most active research field in recent years in the context of health literacy.

In the past five decades, the global literacy rate among adults has grown from 67 percent in 1976 to 87.36 percent in 2023. In 1976, males had a literacy rate of 76 percent, compared to a rate of 58 percent among females. This difference of over 17 percent in 1976 has fallen to just seven percent in 2020. Although gaps in literacy rates have fallen across all regions in recent decades, significant disparities remain across much of South Asia and Africa, while the difference is below one percent in Europe and the Americas. Reasons for these differences are rooted in economic and cultural differences across the globe. In poorer societies, families with limited means are often more likely to invest in their sons' education, while their daughters take up a more domestic role. Varieties do exist on national levels, however, and female literacy levels can sometimes exceed the male rate even in impoverished nations, such as Lesotho (where the difference was over 17 percent in 2014); nonetheless, these are exceptions to the norm.

A survey conducted in the United States in August 2023 found that digital literacy among U.S. adults varied depending on the age group. Younger generations, aged 18 to 29, showed a much higher awareness of digital topics, such as online privacy, and an understanding of generative AI. However, there was a notable gap between them and individuals 65 and older. For example, only 26 percent of respondents older than 65 years could identify an example of two-factor authentication, compared to 68 percent of younger respondents.

United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Lower Middle Income Countries was 77.63182 % of People Ages 15 and Above in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Lower Middle Income Countries reached a record high of 77.63182 in January of 2023 and a record low of 47.38413 in January of 1975. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Lower Middle Income Countries - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on August of 2025.

The National Reporting System for Adult Education (NRS) is administered by the Division of Adult Education and Literacy in the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education at the U.S. Department of Education. Aggregated data, data from individual US states and territories, and narrative reports, all covering program years 2000-2022, were downloaded from https://nrs.ed.gov/ between 2025-02-06 and 2025-02-09. Aggregated reports were uploaded to Data Lumos as both regular files and a zipped folder; state data tables were only uploaded as a zipped folder, due to the high number of individual files. Total, there are 11,206 files and 628 folders in the entire dataset, due to the way it was structured on the original website.

Historical dataset showing U.S. literacy rate by year from N/A to N/A.

National Assessment of Adult Literacy, 2003 (NAAL:2003), is a study that is part of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy program. NAAL:2003 (https://nces.ed.gov/naal/) is a cross-sectional assessment that collected information about English literacy among American adults age 16 and older. The study was conducted using direct assessment from 19,000 adults 16 or older, in their homes and some in prisons from the 50 states and District of Columbia. Households and prison inmates were sampled in 2003. The weighted response rate was 62.1 percent for households and 88.3 percent for prison inmates. Key statistics produced from NAAL:2003 include reading skills, general literacy, relationships, demographics, and background characteristics.

United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Upper Middle Income Countries was 95.61952 % of People Ages 15 and Above in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Upper Middle Income Countries reached a record high of 95.79682 in January of 2020 and a record low of 69.21488 in January of 1976. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Upper Middle Income Countries - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on July of 2025.

There is a gender gap in the literacy rate among the youth worldwide. Although the literacy rates have increased worldwide for both young men and women between 15 and 24 years, men are on average more literate than women. As of 2023, nearly 94 percent of young men and roughly 91.7 percent of women in the world were literate. A similar picture was seen for the adult population worldwide.

United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for the Arab World was 76.15426 % of People Ages 15 and Above in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for the Arab World reached a record high of 76.15426 in January of 2023 and a record low of 44.90297 in January of 1977. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for the Arab World - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on August of 2025.

United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Small States was 87.28028 % of People Ages 15 and Above in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Small States reached a record high of 87.28028 in January of 2023 and a record low of 76.87106 in January of 1986. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Small States - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on July of 2025.

This statistic presents the level of self assessed financial literacy in the United States in 2014, by investable assets. During the survey period, it was found that ** percent of the respondents with investable assets worth ******* U.S. dollars and more admitted that they were very financially literate.

Comprehensive dataset containing 956 verified Literacy program businesses in United States with complete contact information, ratings, reviews, and location data.

There is a gender gap in the global literacy rate. Although literacy rates have generally increased worldwide for both men and women, men are on average more literate than women. As of 2023, about 90.6 percent of men and a little less than 84.1 percent of women worldwide were literate. Adult literacy rate is defined as the percentage of people aged 15 years and above who can both read and write with understanding a short, simple statement about their everyday life. Youth literacy rate Not only does the literacy gender gap concern adults, it also exists among the world’s younger generations aged 15 to 24. Despite an overall increase in literacy, young men are still more literate than young women. In fact, the global youth literacy rate as gender parity index was 0.98 as of 2023, indicating that young women are not yet as literate as young men. Gender pay gap Gender gaps occur in many different spheres of global society. One such issue concerns salary gender gaps in professional life. Regarding the controlled gender pay gap, which measures the median salary for men and women with the same job and qualifications, women still earned less than men as of 2024. The difference was even bigger when measuring the median salary for all men and women. However, not everyone worries about gender pay gaps. According to a survey from 2021, 54 percent of the female respondents deemed the gender pay gap a real problem, compared to 45 percent of the male respondents.

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, 2001 (PIRLS 2001), is a study that in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) program. PIRLS 2001 (https://res1ncesd-o-tedd-o-tgov.vcapture.xyz/surveys/pirls/) is a cross-sectional study that provides international comparative information of the reading literacy of fourth-grade students and examines factors that may be associated with the acquisition of reading literacy in young students. The study was conducted using questionnaires and direct assessments of fourth-grade students. In the United States a total of 174 schools were sampled and 3,763 fourth-grade students were tested. The final weighted student response rate was 96 percent and the final weighted school response rate was 86 percent. The overall weighted response rate was 83 percent. Key statistics produced from PIRLS 2001 are how well fourth-grade students read, how students in one country compare with students in another country, how much fourth-grade students value and enjoy reading, and internationally, how the reading habits and attitudes of students vary.

The statistic shows the ****** grade reading proficiency in the United States in 2015, by state. In 2015, ** percent of ****** grade public school students in Massachusetts performed at or above the proficient level in reading.

The Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL) is a large-scale co-operative effort undertaken in 2003 and in some countries in 2006 to 2008, by governments, national statistics agencies, research institutions and multi-lateral agencies. The ALL study builds on the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), the world's first internationally comparative survey of adult skills undertaken in three rounds of data collection between 1994 and 1998. The main purpose of the survey was to find out how well adults used printed information to function in society. Survey data include background information (demographic, education, language, labour force, training, literacy uses, information and communication technology, income) and psychometric results of respondents' proficiency along four skill domains: prose and document literacy, numeracy and problem-solving. This data file is a compilation of the ALL datasets received for a group of seven countries or regions that collected data in 2003, they include Bermuda, Canada, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, the United States and the Mexican State of Nuevo Leon. Another group of three countries collected their data in 2006 or 2008. They include Hungary, Netherlands, New Zealand.

The National Center for Education Statistics surveyed 12,330 U.S. adults ages 16 to 74 living in households from 2012 to 2017 for the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), an international study involving over 35 countries. Using small area estimation models (SAE), indirect estimates of literacy and numeracy proficiency have been produced for all U.S. states and counties. By using PIAAC survey data in conjunction with data from the American Community Survey, the Skills Map data provides reliable estimates of adult literacy and numeracy skills in all 50 states, all 3,141 counties, and the District of Columbia.

SAE is a model-dependent approach that produces indirect estimates for areas where survey data is inadequate for direct estimation. SAE models assume that counties with similar demographics would have similar estimates of skills. An estimate for a county then “borrows strength” across related small areas through auxiliary information to produce reliable indirect estimates for small areas. The models rely on covariates available at the small areas, and PIAAC survey data. In the absence of any other proficiency assessment data for individual states and counties, the estimates provide a general picture of proficiency for all states and counties. In addition to the indirect estimates, this website provides precision estimates and facilitates statistical comparisons among states and counties. For technical details on the SAE approach applied to PIAAC, see section 5 of the State and County Estimation Methodology Report.

The U.S. county indirect estimates reported in this data are not directly comparable with the direct estimates for PIAAC countries that are reported by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Specifically, the U.S. county indirect estimates (1) represent modeled estimates for adults ages 16-74 whereas the OECD’s direct estimates for participating countries represent estimates for adults ages 16-65, (2) include data for “literacy-related nonresponse” (i.e., adults whose English language skills were too low to participate in the study) whereas the OECD’s direct estimates for countries exclude these data, and (3) are based on three combined data collections (2012/2014/2017) whereas OECD’s direct estimates are based on a single data collection.

Please visit the Skills Map to learn more about this data.

United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Pacific Island Small States was 90.93676 % of People Ages 15 and Above in January of 2020, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Pacific Island Small States reached a record high of 91.29381 in January of 2018 and a record low of 86.96678 in January of 1990. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Pacific Island Small States - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on August of 2025.