Adult Literacy

WORLD LITERACY-FACTS & FIGURES

May 04th, 2009

Canadian Literacy Facts and Figures:

Courtesy of the World Literacy of Canada Organisation www.wordlit.ca

In Canada:

  • 48% of people over the age of 16 have low literacy. This amounts to approximately 12 million Canadians.
  • 42% of working-age Canadians (16-65 years) – about 9 million – have low literacy.
  • Five provinces and territories – Newfoundland & Labrador, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec and Nunavut – have more people with low literacy, as compared to the national average.
  • Though literacy scores in Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon are higher than the national average, 4 out of 10 people in these jurisdictions still fall in the low-literacy range.
  • Over one third of youth (16-25 years) struggle with low literacy.
  • 60% of immigrants have low literacy, compared to only 37% of native-born Canadians, despite the fact that immigrants, on average, have much higher levels of education than their native-born peers.

Source:  International Adult Literacy Skills Survey (IALSS)

(Statistics Canada, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, US National Centre for Education Statistics, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2005)

CANADA’S SHAME

April 16th, 2009

Most of us would be suprised at the numbers of people in Canada today that are functionally illiterate. Here is an interesting article fom the National that discusses how literacy rates are suprising even the experts.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/education/canada-shame.html

CANADA’S LITERACY LEVEL

April 09th, 2009

Did you know that about 9 million Canadians of working age (42%) scored below Level 3 on the prose literacy scale. Level 3 is the desired threshold for coping with a knowledge-based economy and society. Research has shown that low literacy has direct links to poverty, poor health, high unemployment and social isolation.

More stats:

  • 1 in 6 Canadian adults can not read the newspaper headlines.
  • 60% of Canadians over the age of 16 can not read to a high enough level to understand the labelling on medication or work place safety instructions.

Source: Statistics Canada/Frontier College www.frontiercollege.ca