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Literacy levels among 16 to 65-year-olds
| Level |
% |
number |
| Entry level 1 or below |
3 |
1.1m |
| Entry level 2 |
2 |
0.6m |
| Entry level 3 |
11 |
3.5m |
| (All entry level or below) |
16 |
5.2m |
| Level 1 |
40 |
12.6m |
| Level 2 or above |
44 |
14.1m |
(Skills for Life national needs and impact survey, DfES,
2003)
Adult literacy
levels - what do they mean?
More statistics
from the 2003 Skills for Life survey
Regional statistics
Adult literacy, numeracy, ESOL and ICT statistics are available
by Government Office region, Learning and Skills Council area,
district and ward, at www.dfes.gov.uk/readwriteplus_skillsforlifesurvey.
The figures are drawn from the 2003 Skills
for Life national needs and impact survey.
- Since 2001 the number of adults in the workforce without
a level 2 qualification has reduced from 7.1 to 6.8 million
and things are broadly in line to meet the Government
target of a 40% reduction in adults in the workforce without
a level 2 qualification by 2010. (Source: DfES, September
2004)
- For what the OECD refers to as "upper secondary attainment"
- which in the UK is measured as a minimum of five GCSEs
at grades A*-C, or an equivalent vocational qualification
- the report shows that the difference is less than ten
percentage points between 45-54-year-olds and 25-34-year-olds
(who had, by definition, completed their compulsory schooling
by 1993). (Source: DfES, September 2004)
- Only 5.2 million adults (16% of the adult population)
would fail to pass an English GCSE in autumn 2003 - compared
with slightly more than 7 million (20% of adult population)
indicated in the Moser report in 1999. See Adult
basic skills have a long way to go but
literacy is improving (31.10.03)
(Source: National Needs and Impact Survey of Literacy,
Numeracy and ICT Skills, DfES, October 2003)
- In 2003, the DfES found that 29% of adults - as many
as 11 million people - could not calculate the area of
a floor, in either square feet or metres. More than 10%
were unable to understand the instructions on a packet
of seeds. And less than a third of people managed to work
out the amount of plastic covering needed to line a pond
- even with a calculator, pen and paper. (Source: BBC
News website, 1 May 2003)
- Skills
for Life: national strategy for adult basic skills
- what progresss has been made? (March 2002)
- Nearly four out of 10 adults in some parts of England
cannot read or write properly or do simple sums according
to a Basic Skills Agency's report in May 2000. This report
came a year after the agency's chairman Sir Claus Moser's
report, which described the serious problem of 20% of
adults being "functionally
illiterate". A reinterpretation of the Moser data
put the national average even higher, at 24% - rising
to nearly 40% in some areas. On average, 15% have low
literacy, 5% have lower literacy and 4% have very low
literacy.
(Source: Basic Skills Agency report, May 2000)
- Less than 1% of school leavers and adults can be described
as illiterate. Basic literacy skills, however, may be
insufficient to meet the demands of many occupations.
- 12 % of young adults said they had problems with reading,
writing, spelling or basic maths.
(Source: The Basic Skills of Young Adults, BSA/City
University, 1992)
Literacy levels among 16 to 65-year-olds
| Level |
% |
number |
| Entry level 1 or below |
4 |
72,000 |
| Entry level 2 |
3 |
54,000 |
| Entry level 3 |
18 |
324,000 |
| (All entry level or below) |
25 |
450,000 |
| Level 1 |
37 |
680,000 |
| Level 2 or above |
38 |
700,000 |
(Source: Basic Skills Agency/BMRB, 2005)
Adult literacy levels - what do they mean?
- In Northern Ireland 24% of adults came into the low
skills category - see below (The NI survey was carried
out in 1996).
(Source: International Adult Literacy Survey, 1998)
- Data from the International Adult Literacy Survey suggests
that around 800,000 adults in Scotland have very low levels
of literacy and numeracy. Around 23% may have low skills
and a further 30% may find their skills inadequate to
meet the demands of the "knowledge society"
and the "information age".
(Source: Adult Literacy and Numeracy in Scotland,
Scottish Executive, 2001)
- Across Europe around 10% of the population falls into
the low skills category; in Britain the figure is over
20%: eight million people are so poor at reading and writing
that they cannot cope with the demands of modern life.
(Source: International Adult Literacy Survey, 1998)
General information on adult
literacy
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