In this article, we look at Sub-literacy, Functional illiteracy, and the Economic costs of illiteracy. We will also look at how illiteracy affects society, and what can be done to fight it. There are many causes of illiteracy, including lack of education, poverty, and discrimination.
Sub-literacy
Illiteracy is a problem that affects most of the world's population. Today, nearly two out of three people do not know how to read or spell. This condition, also known as sub-literacy, affects children and adults of all ages, from young children to the elderly. People suffering from this condition often suffer from feelings of shame, embarrassment, and anger.
Literacy has many benefits for individuals, families, and communities. It can improve one's self-esteem, political values, and cultural openness, as well as a person's income. Without the ability to read or write, a person is less likely to function in society and will have fewer opportunities in all areas of life.
In addition to being a source of stress and social isolation, lack of literacy can result in physical and mental health problems. Those who are illiterate often have difficulty understanding legal documents, product instructions, and package inserts.
Functional illiteracy
Functional illiteracy is a condition in which the person does not know how to read. In addition to being an intellectual disability, illiteracy can also affect one's health and welfare status. According to one study, functional illiteracy costs the US and Germany over 362 billion dollars a year. As such, understanding the causes of this problem is critical to developing the most effective prevention strategies.
Functional illiteracy can be defined as the inability to read and write well enough to perform common tasks in modern society. This differs from illiteracy in the strictest sense, which is the inability to understand simple sentences in any language. According to a study from 2007, approximately 860 million people worldwide are functionally illiterate.
This condition is caused by deficits in phonological processing, one of the precursors to literacy acquisition. As a result, functional illiterate individuals have lower performance on decoding tasks than literate adults and reading-level matched children. In addition, they exhibit lower performance on oral language comprehension and vocabulary knowledge tasks.
Economic costs of illiteracy
The Economic Costs of Illiteracy report by the World Literacy Foundation reveals the devastating economic costs of illiteracy. The study looks at how illiteracy affects developed, developing, and emerging economies. It found that illiteracy has clear links to poverty, unemployment, and social exclusion. In addition, it can lead to poor health and risky sexual behavior. Furthermore, it may cause more accidents in the workplace.
In developing countries, the Economic Costs of Illiteracy can amount to as much as 0.5% of GDP. For developed countries, the cost would be between 2% and 4% of GDP. This is a high price to pay for illiteracy, and it is essential to take steps to eliminate it. In the United States, almost three-quarters of adult inmates are illiterate. The economic cost of illiteracy affects families and communities, and the taxpayers are paying for it.
The United States could be losing $1.4 trillion in potential GDP each year due to illiteracy. Achieving universal literacy could help offset the economic costs of illiteracy, and eradicating illiteracy would be a major step in this direction.
