I check on this. So first thing I found, literacy rates and average reading age are different things. Literacy rate, able to read at all, is clearly tracked and both countries are like 99%. Reading age seams really mushy. If you can get some numbers, please share!
Most Americans read at or below a 6th grade level
So we hear. But the world is not America and this is a British newspaper.
To be fair I don’t think literacy rates in the UK blow the US out of the water or anything.
I check on this. So first thing I found, literacy rates and average reading age are different things. Literacy rate, able to read at all, is clearly tracked and both countries are like 99%. Reading age seams really mushy. If you can get some numbers, please share!
Oh I couldn’t get any hard data on reading age for the UK. Search engines are trash now.
Just figured out the apples to apples term to search is “functionally illiterate”
From a quick glance it seems to be about 18% (UK) vs 21% for the US. So as I expected, better but not anything to write home about.
https://literacytrust.org.uk/parents-and-families/adult-literacy/
You mean you don’t just trust the AI summaries?
18% or 21% sounds like a lot of people. Not an easy problem. :-(