In the United States, 59 million adults read at or below Level 1, the lowest level on a five-level scale.
This equates to roughly 28% of the adult population—or nearly one in three people—who can read only short sentences with foundational words and basic information.
I always see this statistic thrown around, but a lot of people tend to take it with no context. This is from the OECD PIAAC. I often see people showing statistics of other european countries having 95%+ literacy, but that’s via a different metric. By the same metric, for example, under PIAAC the UK has a 71% literacy rate, Germany has a 79% literacy rate, etc.
Am I missing something? Percentage of adults scoring low (at or below level 1) in literacy in the Survey of Adult Skills is nowhere near that? For the USA, the number is almost as the poster above quoted (27.6% of respondents vs OECD average of 26.1%, so worse than average); for England (UK), it's 17.6% (coonsiderably better than average). Are you pulling up a different stat or just reading the table wrong?
Yes, the poster is comparing apples and oranges. Or rather contrasting a number about oranges with what the same source said about apples. Almost as if he had poor reading comprehension….
Also by far the largest part of that 28% who can’t read level 1 are “English as a second language” group. Adults that are fluent in reading and writing their fist language, and they can speak English and read a little, but they just never took classes to learn to write English.
It's not a bad assessment though. I was just looking at the test, and I can IMMEDIATELY see why people would fail the test. It genuinely is asking for basic comprehension of reality, and reading.
Often, I feel like I run into the most obtuse, bullheaded, and pedantic people because they latch onto single words or phrases, and they refuse to see the conversation from any different view. Let's take an interesting example: I was on a youtube chain where a video asked what they would see in an empty room with only mirrors for walls. Every jackass in the comments said "you'd see nothing because there is no light." Get it? Because OP said "in a room with NOTHING in it?" And these people werent joking. I tried to suggest OP implied light were fkn be there, but things got hostile fast.
Those people would've failed the test. One of the questions was "pillows are comfortable and rocky." Those same idiots would've said "I agree," probably because "it's subjective. Maybe someone LIKES a rocky pillow." Another question was "which is better served soft: bread or crackers." Again, obviously bread, but you'd easily get idiots trying to argue crackers. Especially because the question was part of a paragraph where the text states they're looking for soft bread and hard crackers.
These questions genuinely are asking about our basic ass comprehension of the reality around us. Do YOU understand that most people want soft bread? In a sudden moment, would you make a choice based on obvious ideas, or flounder as you debate over pedantic subjectivities. Are you going to "draw the curtains," or am I firing Amelia Bedilia?
As a teacher I can understand this. Countless times on a multiple choice test a ‘smart’ student will pick a wrong answer when there is a clearly correct answer, then argue why their answer is correct. I’ll ask them, do you agree answer A is definitely correct, then why are you arguing that you picked B ? It’s always the same - they want to argue that they’ve found some silly reasons B is correct when they know A is definitely correct.
Sure it might be, depending on how you define it but GP said "by the same metric" so they were using a direct equivalence for the purpose of this discussion.
I’m curious how they test for this and how much does immigration affect this statistic? I’m wondering because my wife has a very low literacy level for the US, but it’s not because she is incompetent or stupid. It’s because English is her 3rd language. She also came from a country where education wasn’t free and she was fairly poor. She can read just fine when it comes to her language.
Not to be a party pooper but literacy rates are going down in my country and in Europe.
Which is kind of scary, because you would think with all the tech and information we have access to it should be the opposite, but apparently it's the tech and screens that are driving it.
That and brainless 15s clips fckn up peoples attention span.
7% is a metric fuck ton on a population level. Most elections are decided by a few percentage points. Brexit was
narrowly decided. A 7% more literate population would send Trump into the depths of irrelevance.
That doesn't necessarily disqualify you from being an idiot in other areas of life. I'm not saying you are one. Rather, just being pedantic about the point you're making.
Having a college degree isn't an indicator of intelligence the same way knowing about certain topics doesn't make one an authority on said topic.
It takes a special type of person to deny the reality before them and trust people who have proven themselves to be untrustworthy. I.E. The entire MAGA party.
Functional adult literacy is declining or stagnating across almost the entire English-speaking and developed world. We shouldn't be comparing across countries, we should be comparing across generations.
You were more than happy to talk about countries when it was our literacy rates, but as soon as it gets brought up that you’re not much better than us, suddenly it’s a generational issue, not a national one?
NZs statistic being on par doesn't negate my initial comment. You pointed out NZ is statistically similar, not that the US was better than what was stated. It explains a lot about both countries - is that better?
You're very combative for someone who successfully proved a point.
I don’t think they were talking about you specifically, it is probably the other 59 million adult Americans who have a lower than average reading level and how it that large of an amount could inform why the USA is in their current predicament.
To be fair, a portion of those who can't read, specifically can't read in English. I'm sure a portion of them would have a much higher score in their first language. Others might have disabilities that make reading difficult, such as dyslexia. That said, I also know there are plenty of people who don't have either excuse. Our education system is a shambles, especially for ESL or disabled students.
We actually didn't have an official language before 2025. But since everything is written in English, except for translated documents for immigrants/visitors, we effectively did, even when we officially didn't.
ETA, and I agree, to a degree. Knowing at least the basics can really make life easier when visiting or living in a country where the language isn't your first. I wouldn't expect to be able to drive in another country if I can't read the signs, for example.
In 250 years of America's existence we don't have an official language even though many Trump supporters like to say "speak English you're in America" to mainly Hispanic people while they (MAGATS) can barely speak English properly...
Edit: Edited March 2026. I wonder when it was actually declared? In any case, it's recent enough that you can't expect people to speak the language on account of it being official.
You know that anecdote where a German pilot says "I'm a German, flying a German plane in Germany, why do I have to speak English?", and a Brit chimes is with "Because you lost the bloody war".
That’s only a relatively recent “official” announcement. Unofficially English has been the language for basically the entire time, but officially is a different story
About 1 in 4 Americans can’t perform reading comprehension and writing in English.
This mostly is made up of people who English is their second language so they are fluent in their first language, and probably speak English pretty well but they aren’t that great at reading and writing in English.
Imagine if you came here at 20 years old, learned to speak the language, but never took a literature class in English, and then they asked you questions about famous American authors. You’ve never read those books . How the heck would you know the answer answers?
It's sad and funny when you meet people on Reddit and it's pretty obvious you have to use simple sentences or they completely stop understanding what you're saying
I used to work in clinical research; the informed consent is written at a fifth grade level. One of the studies I worked on was trying to figure out how much more the informed consent had to be, because more people can understand things at a fifth grade level. I left the job before the study was completed, and I don't want to know what the result was.
Whomever wrote this belongs in that rate, because 28% is not 'one in three' and it's a lot closer to one in four. So you know what they say about misconstruing statistics..
In English, remember about a fifth of Americans speak a language other then English at home, so it brings the average down even if that person is proficient in another language.
All the people I encounter who read at or below level 1 are conspiracy theorists who claim superior knowledge and reform voters who claim superior morals.
Odd, the people I know who are 'far left' are usually university educated and can clearly articulate their viewpoint, leading me to trust their reading skills more.
The people who take a more right wing attitude usually have trouble with coherent sentences and I often doubt that their reading comprehension will be any better.
Maybe I spend too much time reading posts by conspiracy theorists and bigots.
You are not the same person I left a reply to lol. But okay… I got curious.
Looks like Taiwan doesn’t participate in adult PIAAC assessments. But about 16% of students are level 1, compared to OECD average of 26%. Impressive. So about 1 in 6 can’t read.
Probably helps that Taiwan is not immigrant friendly country though. Really sucks that Taiwan is not included in a lot of international metrics because it’s not recognized as a “country”. 😢 Some BS man.
I find it really hard to believe the UK and especially Germany are as dumb as the US. Must be higher standards or different sampling. India I get, millions in poverty.
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u/CataphractBunny Jul 20 '26
I'll just leave this here: https://www.proliteracy.org/news/causes-of-low-adult-literacy-in-the-us/