literacy for life; EFA global monitoring report, 2006 - Institut de ...

EFA PROGRESS: WHERE DO WE STAND? / 63
PISA 2003. While gender differences in student
performance in mathematics were generally
modest, boys expressed much stronger levels of
interest and enjoyment in learning mathematics.
In addition, boys had stronger beliefs that learning
mathematics would help them in their future
careers; boys tended to have a more positive view
of their abilities than girls in mathematics; and
girls reported experiencing significantly more
feelings of anxiety, helplessness and stress in
mathematics classes (OECD, 2004).
Literacy
Literacy is the focus of the thematic part of this
EFA Global Monitoring Report and is analysed in
Chapters 5 to 9. This section simply reviews key
adult literacy patterns in the context of this
chapter’s general assessment of progress
towards Education for All. As Chapter 7 explains,
data used here are to be treated with some
caution. Based on conventional methods of
assessment, they tend to overestimate the actual
levels of literacy in countries.
Global patterns of adult literacy
Table 2.6 reports the latest estimates of the
number of adult illiterates, along with literacy
rates for the population aged 15 and older.
The estimates are based on data reported by
countries for the most recent year in the
2000–2004 reference period. There are an
estimated 771 million illiterate adults globally, or
18% of the world’s adult population. Almost all
adults who have yet to acquire minimal literacy
skills live in developing countries, in particular
those in South and West Asia, sub-Saharan Africa
and the Arab States, where literacy rates are
about 60% (see the world adult literacy map in
next pages). Although the East Asia and Pacific
region has the highest literacy rate among
developing regions (91%), its large population
means it remains home to 17% of the world’s
illiterate adults.
Since 1990, the adult literacy rate has risen
from 75% to 82% and the number of illiterates
has fallen by 100 million, mainly because of a
marked reduction (by 94 million) in China.
Declines in the number of illiterates, albeit of
much smaller magnitude, occurred in all regions
except sub-Saharan Africa and, to a more limited
extent, the Arab States. Despite increases in
literacy rates of ten percentage points or more in
the latter two regions, their absolute numbers of
illiterates continued to rise because of high
population growth rates. Similarly, in South and
West Asia, where the number of adult illiterates
declined slightly (by 0.3%), literacy rates
increased by eleven percentage points during the
period, though the adult literacy rate (59%) still
ranks lowest among the world regions, mainly
due to the very low levels of Bangladesh and
Pakistan (41% and 49%, respectively).
Boys tend to have
a more positive
view of their
abilities than girls
in mathematics
Table 2.6: Estimates of adult illiterates and literacy rates (population aged 15+) by region, 1990 and 2000—2004
World
Developing countries
Developed countries
Countries in transition
Number of illiterates
(thousands) Literacy rates (%)
1990
2000-2004
1990
2000-2004
871 750 771 129 75.4 81.9
855 127 759 199 67.0 76.4
14 864 10 498 98.0 98.7
1 759 1 431 99.2 99.4
Change from 1990 to 2000–2004 in:
Number of illiterates
(thousand) (%)
Literacy rates
(percentage
points)
-100 621 -12 6.4
-95 928 -11 9.4
-4 365 -29 0.7
-328 -19 0.2
Sub-Saharan Africa
Arab States
Central Asia
East Asia and the Pacific
South and West Asia
Latin America and the Caribbean
Central and Eastern Europe
North America and Western Europe
Note: Figures may not add to totals because of rounding.
Source: Statistical annex, Table 2A.
128 980 140 544 49.9 59.7
63 023 65 128 50.0 62.7
572 404 98.7 99.2
232 255 129 922 81.8 91.4
382 353 381 116 47.5 58.6
41 742 37 901 85.0 89.7
11 500 8 374 96.2 97.4
11 326 7 740 97.9 98.7
11 564 9 9.8
2 105 3 12.6
-168 -29 0.5
-102 333 -44 9.6
-1 237 -0.3 11.2
-3 841 -9 4.7
-3 126 -27 1.2
-3 585 -32 0.8