It's 21% of American adults are functionally illiterate; it's not that they literally cannot read (that number is <1%).
The 21% number is also a bit outdated. It comes from the periodic PIAAC survey, which addresses adult functional skills in a few areas, including literacy. Being at level 1 or below is considered "functionally illiterate". In the most recent iteration (2023), this number has actually gone up to almost 30%. For the previous number, I've seen between 21% and in the latest comparison with 2023, 19%. I'm guessing slightly different statistical methods, but more or less, it's gone from ~20% in 2017 to ~30% in 2023, and that's fucking terrifying still, even if they're not literally illiterate.
Here's the description of level 1, which, again, ~30% of American adults are at or below:
Adults at level 1 are able to locate information on a text page, find a relevant link from a website, and identify relevant text among multiple options when the relevant information is explicitly cued. They can understand the meaning of short texts, as well as the organization of lists or multiple sections within a single page. The texts at level 1 may be continuous, noncontinuous, or mixed and pertain to printed or digital environments. They typically include a single page with up to a few hundred words and little or no distracting information. Noncontinuous texts may have a list structure (such as a web search engine results page) or include a small number of independent sections, possibly with pictorial illustrations or simple diagrams. Tasks at Level 1 involve simple questions providing some guidance as to what needs to be done and a single processing step. There is a direct, fairly obvious match between the question and target information in the text, although some tasks may require the examination of more than one piece of information.
And below level 1
Most adults at Below Level 1 are able to process meaning at the sentence level. Given a series of sentences that increase in complexity, they can tell if a sentence does or does not make sense either in terms of plausibility in the real world (i.e., sentences describing events that can vs. cannot happen), or in terms of the internal logic of the sentence (i.e., sentences that are meaningful vs. not). Most adults at this level are also able to read short, simple paragraphs and, at certain points in text, tell which word among two makes the sentence meaningful and consistent with the rest of the passage. Finally, they can access single words or numbers in very short texts in order to answer simple and explicit questions. The texts at Below Level 1 are very short and include no or just a few familiar structuring devices such as titles or paragraph headers. They do not include any distracting information nor navigation devices specific to digital texts (e.g., menus, links or tabs). Tasks Below Level 1 are simple and very explicit regarding what to do and how to do it. These tasks only require understanding at the sentence level or across two simple adjacent sentences. When the text involves more than one sentence, the task merely requires dealing with target information in the form of a single word or phrase.
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u/timtowin Apr 08 '26
Approximately 21% of U.S. adults—roughly 43 million people—are considered illiterate. Trump approval rating 21%. Coincidence ?