June Steward

Over the years, there have been many attempts to place an economic value on the cost of illiteracy in various nations. There are disputes about the methodologies used to calculate such figures. But the fact remains that illiteracy costs the global economy more than USD $1 trillion dollars each year due to the fact that at least one in five people worldwide struggle with illiteracyi. This is a global tragedy. Behind the numbers are the millions of people who live in poverty due to the simple fact that they are illiterate. However, the problem is anything but simple.

Functional illiteracy means a person may be able to read and write simple words, but cannot apply these skills to tasks such as reading a medicine label, balancing a chequebook, or filling out a job applicationii.

Shockingly, more than 796 million people in the world cannot read and writeiii. About 67 million children do not have access to primary school education and another 72 million miss out on secondary school educationiv v.

The findings of this final report include:
 The cost of illiteracy to the global economy is estimated at USD $1.19 trillion.
 The effects of illiteracy are very similar in developing and developed countries. This includes illiterate people trapped in a cycle of poverty with limited opportunities for employment or income generation and higher chances of poor health, turning to crime and dependence on social welfare or charity (if available).