The Impact of Illiteracy and Low Literacy on Our Children, Families and Communities
- Among adults at the lowest level of literacy proficiency, 43% live in poverty. Among adults with strong literacy skills, only 4% live in poverty.
- More than one million children drop out of school each year, costing the nation over $240 billion in lost earnings, forgone tax revenues, and expenditures for social services.
- American business currently spends more than $60 billion each year on employee training, much of that for remedial reading, writing, and mathematics.
- Annual health care costs in the U.S. are four times higher for individuals with low literacy skills than they are for individuals with high level literacy skills.
- One-half of all adults in U.S. federal and state correctional institutions cannot read or write at all.
- Eighty-five percent of juvenile offenders have reading problems.
- Illiteracy and low literacy in adults can be linked to almost every socioeconomic problem in the United States and abroad.
- Low literate adults:
- Do poorly in the job market;
- Lack the skills to help their children be successful in school;
- Are more likely to suffer from poor health; and
- Are more likely to receive public assistance.