Why Literacy
Literacy is a Right
750 Million People in the World are Illiterate
The Stats are Bleak

750 million adults
– two-thirds of whom are women – still lack basic reading and writing skills.

About 258 million children
and youth are out of school.

6 out of 10 children
and adolescents are not learning a minimum in reading and math.

People with poor literacy skills
are more than 2x as likely to be unemployed.
The Impact of Illiteracy

Economic Impact
- Illiteracy and low levels of literacy have estimated to cost the global economy approximately 1.19 trillion annually.
- More than two billion adults worldwide don’t have the essential literacy skills employers need. Unemployment causes lost productivity which slows economic growth.
- When a high proportion of the adult population has poor literacy skills, many positions remain vacant as insufficient individuals are adequately skilled to fulfill those roles.
Social Impact
- Functionally illiterate parents often prioritize work before education and have lower expectations regarding schooling. This leads to a cycle of disadvantage through generations.
- People completely or functional illiterate face the prospect of poor health outcomes, welfare dependency, gender inequality, and a lack of social cohesion.
- There are currently 5.5 million more out-of-school girls than boys, worldwide.5 In the long term, this widens the gender gap.


Health Impact
- Studies have shown the mother´s literacy level is closely related to child health and survival.
- People with low levels of literacy are more likely to experience adverse health outcomes, have poor health literacy, and practice poor health behaviors.
- Literacy significantly enhances a person’s ability to access, understand and apply health information to make accurate decisions.
Early Intervention is Key

Research confirms that a child’s early years brain development shapes the adults they become, the success they achieve and the contributions they make to the economy and society.
The World Literacy Foundation focusses on early intervention so that every child has the strongest chance to reach their full potential.
Our work includes educating new parents to support their children in their learning, providing regular reading groups, and distributing books and other literacy resources to young children who may lack access to them.
92% of your donation brings books and literacy support to children in need.
By giving the gift of literacy today, you are empowering a child with reading and writing skills needed to succeed at school and beyond.
Why Literacy
Why Literacy
Why Literacy
Why Literacy World Literacy Foundation
We’re the World Literacy Foundation https://worldliteracyfoundation.org/ We envision a world in which every one of us can read and write, in which there is free access to education for all. The World Literacy Foundation is global a non-profit organization striving to ensure that every child regardless of geographic location has the opportunity to acquire literacy skills and books to reach their full potential – succeeding at school and beyond.Thanks to You, We Did It! In 2019-20, our programs and services impacted 116K+ children, parents, and communities in the locations where we operate through book distributions, reading sessions, literacy mentoring, solar-powered tablets, and more. We also reached a global audience via digital channels with our message about the importance of literacy and reading in our daily lives.
Why Literacy? At the World Literacy Foundation, we believe in literacy as the foundation of lifelong learning and education. People who cannot read or write experience difficulties with simple everyday tasks such as reading the label of a medicine bottle, filling in a job application or understanding a traffic sign. When we help someone to acquire literacy skills, we are empowering them to access to better opportunities in life to break the poverty cycle.
Literacy Beyond Reading and Writing Literacy is defined as the ability to read, write, speak, and listen, which to communicate effectively with one another (Department of Education and Training, n.d). However, in this generation, literacy goes beyond reading, comprehension, and writing skills. Literacy is an essential ability to participate actively and meaningfully in society. On a global scale, UNESCO (2019) indicates that 773 million
Why Literacy
Why Literacy
Why Literacy
Why Literacy World Literacy Foundation
We’re the World Literacy Foundation https://worldliteracyfoundation.org/ We envision a world in which every one of us can read and write, in which there is free access to education for all. The World Literacy Foundation is global a non-profit organization striving to ensure that every child regardless of geographic location has the opportunity to acquire literacy skills and books to reach their full potential – succeeding at school and beyond.Thanks to You, We Did It! In 2019-20, our programs and services impacted 116K+ children, parents, and communities in the locations where we operate through book distributions, reading sessions, literacy mentoring, solar-powered tablets, and more. We also reached a global audience via digital channels with our message about the importance of literacy and reading in our daily lives.
Why Literacy? At the World Literacy Foundation, we believe in literacy as the foundation of lifelong learning and education. People who cannot read or write experience difficulties with simple everyday tasks such as reading the label of a medicine bottle, filling in a job application or understanding a traffic sign. When we help someone to acquire literacy skills, we are empowering them to access to better opportunities in life to break the poverty cycle.
Literacy Beyond Reading and Writing Literacy is defined as the ability to read, write, speak, and listen, which to communicate effectively with one another (Department of Education and Training, n.d). However, in this generation, literacy goes beyond reading, comprehension, and writing skills. Literacy is an essential ability to participate actively and meaningfully in society. On a global scale, UNESCO (2019) indicates that 773 million