At least a quarter of adults in each of 20 countries taking part in a survey of literacy skills fell below the level needed for coping with the demands of daily life and work in a complex advanced society.
This was one of the main findings of Literacy in the Information Age, the final report of the International Adult Literacy Survey, conducted for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and published last week.
The report revealed big variations in literacy skills between and within countries. Scandinavians, especially the Swedish, scored highest, with Chile, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia trailing.
Presenting the report, John Martin, director for education, employment, labour and social affairs at the OECD, said there were great inequalities between the most and the least literate adults in the United States, Poland, Slovenia, Chile, Portugal, Canada and the United Kingdom, while in the Scandinavian countries the gaps were much smaller.
In many countries, adult training had become a common activity rather than an exception.
"In Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the US and the UK, at least 40 per cent of the adult population participated in some form of training," Mr Martin said. "In all countries it is those with the highest literacy skills who receive the most training." He called for policy efforts to be geared towards increasing the training for workers with the lowest skills.
The IALS was launched in the 1990s by the OECD and Statistics Canada to establish scales for comparing literacy rates among adults aged from 16 to 65. The survey found educational attainment to be the most important predictor of literacy proficiency, with people increasing their literacy scores on the IALS test by about ten points for each additional year they attended school.
Literacy in the Information Age, the final report of the IALS, is available from: OECD, 2 Rue Andre Pascal, 75775 Paris, Cedex 16; or at http://electrade.gfi.fr/cgi-bin/ OECDBookShop.storefront/EN/product/ 812000051