ABSTRACT
Using the commonly held though narrow definition of literacy as the ability to read and write, UNESCO, as of 2000, found that there are an estimated 862 million illiterate adults in the world, two-thirds of whom are women. Additionally, Mohamed Maamouri (2000) found that “the number of illiterate people in many developing countries still represents more than half their youth and adult populations… representing nearly 25 per cent of the world’s youth and adults.” In the United States, considered one of the developed countries, even though basic literacy rates are quite high (with some estimates at 98%), 23% of adult females and 17% of adult males have severely limited literacy skills.
