No, that stat is nothing outlandish. A little outdated - I think it might be from a study in 1982 - but not jarringly at odds with other data I’ve seen. The term “illiterate” means different things in different contexts… and unfortunately often means different things even in the same context. Generally though, for statistical data, “illiterate” tends to mean “functionally illiterate.” People who are functionally illiterate are perfectly capable of reading and writing in that language at a children’s level, but they struggle with complex terminology and long (especially technical) passages of text. Think about the sort of person who could read a warning sign, but not a manual. The kind of person Ikea assembly instructions were made for. If anything, 13% starts to sound low when you realise that’s the usual standard.
It explicitly says “87% of women can read and write”, meaning that 13% of USA’s women literally can’t read and write.
That’s so stupid that I’m inclined to believe that whoever made this is functionally illiterate.
No, that stat is nothing outlandish. A little outdated - I think it might be from a study in 1982 - but not jarringly at odds with other data I’ve seen. The term “illiterate” means different things in different contexts… and unfortunately often means different things even in the same context. Generally though, for statistical data, “illiterate” tends to mean “functionally illiterate.” People who are functionally illiterate are perfectly capable of reading and writing in that language at a children’s level, but they struggle with complex terminology and long (especially technical) passages of text. Think about the sort of person who could read a warning sign, but not a manual. The kind of person Ikea assembly instructions were made for. If anything, 13% starts to sound low when you realise that’s the usual standard.
It explicitly says “87% of women can read and write”, meaning that 13% of USA’s women literally can’t read and write.
That’s so stupid that I’m inclined to believe that whoever made this is functionally illiterate.