World Literacy Rates

Hmm probably should have thought about the topic more before i decided upon using it as a blog... what to write, what to write... Ah i know, world literacy rates. Its geography and writing related plus mildy interesting.

Wow, i just found out that there is 7 countries with a 100% literacy rate. Who knew?! Theses countries are Andorra, Finland, Georgia, Greenland, Liechtenstein (never heard of that country before.. I'll look it up) Luxemberg and Norway. Ireland is ranked number 11 with 99% of the population literate.

On a side note , Liechtenstein is a very small country inbetween Switzerland and Austria.

At the other end of the scale, the country with the lowest literacy rate is Mali with a shocking 26.2% literacy!! That's incomprehensible to me. I can't imagine not being able to read or write.

Facts on illiteracy

Thanks to the International Literacy Day website for these facts. I'll post a link below.

1.) There are 1 billion illiterate adults in the world.
2.) Women make up two thirds of all illiterates.
3.) 98 percent of all non-literates live in developing countries.
4.) In the least developed countries, the overall illiteracy rate is 49 percent.
5.) 52 percent of all non-literates live in India and China.
6.) Africa as a continent has a literacy rate of less than 60 percent.

Here's a link to the website.

http://www.sil.org/literacy/LitFacts.htm

Also I found a video on the causes and consequences of illiteracy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5XoolVbIIg

Impact of Writing

Since it was invented writing became of utter importance to the ruling class. The use of writing made it easy to keep track of supplies, who was producing what, who owned what.

Because only a small amount of people learn to read and write, they became the elite. writers gained access to the lives of common people and kings alike.

Since the invention of the printing press, books became cheaper. In the past books were very expensive as they had to be wrote by hand. This step allowed more people to purchase books and learn to read and write.

The use of writing has become common in modern times. However 15% of the worlds population cannot read and write. However i found that answer on wiki answers so it could be a bit dodge... The figures of illiterate women is much higher then men. This is because parents in third world countries may decide to send their sons to school and keep their daughters at home.