Population growth and illiteracy

A hundred years ago, education was not nearly so widely available as it is today. For this reason, illiteracy was very common. Today, education is almost universally available and illiteracy does not seem quite so common as it was a hundred years ago.

Despite this perception, there are more nonliterate people in the world today than at any time in history, or at least in this century. A primary reason for this is the growth of population in those countries which have low literacy rates.

The following graph traces the growth in both population and illiteracy in the twentieth century.

The world's population more than tripled in this century growing from about 1.6 billion in 1900 to about 5.75 billion in 1995. This is an increase of 4.15 billion people.

During the same period, the number of nonliterates increased from about 300 million in 1900 to about 1 billion in 1995. While the nonliterate population has also tripled, the numerical growth is only about 700 million people.

This graph tells us several things:

• The percentage of the world's population has dropped dramatically during the twentieth century from about 45 percent of the adults to only 27 percent in 1995.
• Illiteracy is not yet in the process of being wiped out. The number of nonliterate adults has increased slowly but steadily during this century.
• There has been a huge increase in the ability of nations to educate their populations as evidenced by the difference between the size of the total population and the size of the nonliterate population.

At least 95 percent of the population growth has taken place in the developing countries. Since this is where we find most of the illiteracy, it is not surprising that the size of the nonliterate population is still growing.

While UNESCO and many governments have launched campaigns to wipe out illiteracy by the year 2000, the best estimates indicate that the numbers of nonliterates will continue to grow for at least awhile. It is conceivable that the growth of illiteracy will be halted, but the elimination of illiteracy is not likely in the foreseeable future.

• Fact module: Population growth and illiteracy
• In overview module: General literacy statistics, by Stephen L. Walter
• In overview module: The big picture in literacy, by Stephen L. Walter
• In modular book: Prepare for a literacy program, by Stephen L. Walter, Mary Morgan, and Leah B. Walter
• In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 1 October 1999

© 1999 SIL International