What factors influence world literacy? is Africa different?

Dorte Verner ()

No 3496, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Ninety-five percent of the world’s illiterate people live in developing countries, and about 70 percent are women. Female illiteracy rates are particularly high in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Niger and Burkina Faso, for example, more than 90 percent of women are illiterate. This paper presents a model of literacy. It shows that the main determinants of worldwide literacy are enrollment rates, average years of schooling of adults, and life expectancy at birth. Income has a weak nonlinear effect, negatively affecting literacy until a threshold level of per-capita income of about $2200 a year is reached and positively affecting literacy thereafter. Finally, African countries do not have a significantly higher literacy rate when controlling for other factors.

Keywords: Public Health Promotion; Education Reform and Management; Nonformal Education; PrimaryEducation; Curriculum&Instruction; Primary Education; Gender and Education; Curriculum&Instruction; Education Reform and Management; Nonformal Education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-01-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-edu
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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