A report titled, “The Economic and
Social Cost of Illiteracy: A Snapshot of Illiteracy in A Global
Context”, published by the World Literacy Foundation and released to
coincide with the World Literacy Summit, has revealed that illiteracy is
costing the world economy a massive $1.19 trillion each year. Of this,
the Indian economy alone is losing $53.56 billion annually, lesser only
to China, which is losing $ 135.60 billion.
The report assesses functional illiterates which UNESCO defines
as “people who can read and write simple words but can’t apply these
skills to tasks such as reading a medicine label, balancing a cheque
book or filling a job application”.
The research highlights the social and economic impact of a
person’s inability to read and write. It reveals that more than 796
million people globally cannot read and write. About 67 million children
don’t have access to primary school education and another 72 million
miss out on secondary education.
It calculates the cost of illiteracy to a developed nation at 2
per cent of its GDP, while the loss to an emerging economy like India
and China would be around 1.2 per cent of the GDP, and to a developing
country 0.5 per cent of the GDP.
Calling for ways to bring children to schools and retain them,
the Report says that illiterates earn 30 to 42 per cent less than their
literate counterparts as they don’t have the literacy skills required to
undertake further vocational education training to improve their
earning capacity.
The report also establishes a link between illiteracy and crime
saying majority of prison inmates across the world have poor literacy
skills. Also amongst juvenile delinquents, up to 85 per cent are
functionally illiterate.
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