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In 2024, 79% of adults in the United States are literate, while 21% are illiterate. This puts the US in 36th place for literacy. Other literacy statistics for the US include:
54% of adults have a literacy level below 6th grade
20% of adults have a literacy level below 5th grade
34% of adults who lack literacy proficiency were born outside the US
More than 70% of inmates in US prisons can't read above a 4th grade level
Children of illiterate parents have a 72% chance of being illiterate as adults
Edit: you all in the replies are dead set on proving these statistics true, aren't you? Bless your hearts.
Functional illiteracy is a different measure than illiteracy. You are talking about functional illiteracy, and proved such with your examples.
It's a fairly important distinction tbh.
Isn't part of the US illiterate population perfectly literate in a language other than English?
That's the third statistic.
What the fuck are you even talking about? The conversation is about why Americans are so fucking stupid, not entirely illiterate.
The fact that OVER HALF of the adult population reads at BELOW A SIXTH GRADE LEVEL, is kind of the REALLY FUCKING IMPORTANT part, actually.
Reading comprehension issue, typical American
28% of Americans disagree
The rest? Yeah fucking hopeless.
Isn't part of the US illiterate population perfectly literate in a language other than English?
No, unless it specifies that they're illiterate in English. Otherwise, everyone is illiterate since they can't read every single language on Earth.