1. Functional Illiteracy
By Gaurav Mishra

2. What is Illiteracy?
* 2003 National Assessment of
Adult Literacy

3. Why is it a problem?

4. Problems caused by
Illiteracy in the workplace
Problems
Other
Miscalculation
Injury
Recruitment
Non-compliance
Ineffective Training
Wastage
Ineffective Work
Time Wasting
Poor Completion
0 10 20 30 40 50
This survey was taken by the
National Workforce Literacy % of employers reporting this problem
Project in the May of 2010

5. Other types of Illiteracy
Another common type of
There are over thirteen
illiteracy is mathematical
different types of
illiteracy or innumeracy.
illiteracy, from
Cultural illiteracy is the toInnumeracy is the inability
technological illiteracy
appreciate to understand
inability toliteracy.
scientific
one’s culture. mathematics.most
Probably the
common form of illiteracy
is functional Illiteracy, or
Moral illiteracy is the
the inability to use written
inability to have principles
text to carry out daily
and a moral compass.
activity.

6. World Illiteracy
• Illiteracy is growing in all parts of world, such
as Pakistan and the Middle East. More than
fifteen different countries have less than 50%
of their people literate. Of them, at least
eleven are in Africa. To see a video about
illiteracy in Germany, click here. To see a video
about illiteracy in Somalia, click here. To see a
video about illiteracy in Pakistan, click here.

7. U.S. Illiteracy
• Illiteracy is also a problem in the U.S.A.
Around 3,130,000 people in the U.S.A are
illiterate and in certain places the illiteracy
rate is shockingly high. For
example, Mississippi’s illiteracy rate is around
14%. Overall, America is only the 27th most
literate country.

8. Facts and Stats
• America loses around 240 billion dollars a year from
dropouts
• More than 20% of adults read below a 5th grade level
• Over 75% of people on welfare are illiterate
• Over 64% of those arrested are illiterate
• Over 60% of criminals are illiterate
• Around 50% of unemployed 16-21-year-olds are
illiterate
• 85% of juvenile delinquents are bad at reading
• 20% of high school graduates cannot read their
diploma

9. What you can do to help
• Visit this website to conduct a web search for
volunteer opportunities combatting illiteracy.
http://www.literacydirectory.org/?op=ld&mo
de=volunteers
• Visit my site at www.usliteracy.webs.com
• Spread the word!!!!!!!