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About 14 percent of U.S. adults won't be reading this article. Well, okay, most people won't read it, given all the words that are published these days to help us understand and navigate the increasingly complex world.

But about 1 in 7 can't read it. They're illiterate.

Statistics released by the U.S. Education Department this week show that some 32 million U.S. adults lack basic prose literacy skill. That means they can't read a newspaper or the instruction on a bottle of pills.

The figures are for 2003, the latest year available. State and county results are available here.

"The crisis of adult literacy is getting worse, and investment in education and support programs is critical," said David C. Harvey, president and CEO of ProLiteracy, in response to the finding.

This is about jobs and the economy, Harvey said.

"More than 1 million people lost their jobs in 2008 and the new unemployment figures are the highest in 16 years," Harvey said. "A large number of the unemployed are low-skilled individuals who struggle with everyday reading, writing and math tasks. The administration wants to create new jobs with the stimulus packages, but to take advantage of those new positions, these adults need basic literacy skills."

A separate study released last month named Minneapolis and Seattle as the most literate cities.

ProLiteracy, which promotes reading programs for the disadvantaged and encourages more government funding, estimates that illiteracy costs American businesses more than $60 billion each year in lost productivity and health and safety issues. Lack of funding at the federal, state and local levels prevents about 90 percent of the illiterate from getting help, the organization claims.

ProLiteracy also estimates:

* 63 percent of prison inmates can't read
* 774 million people worldwide are illiterate
* Two-thirds of the world's illiterate are women

If parents can't read, there's a good chance children will be poor readers, the organization notes.

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Originally posted by Bicnarok
Is this Illiterate as in not being able to read at all, ie recognize any text or letters whatsoever?
Or illiterate in the sense of making too many spelling mistakes, and having problems reading?

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Originally posted by Ushgarak

Frankly I am surprised the given proportion is so low. The Moser Report in the UK gave our figure as 20%. So this will all be down to differences in what the required standard of literacy is meant to be.

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Originally posted by Bardock42
What does "not function properly" mean? I mean, what can't they read?

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Originally posted by Ushgarak
Like I say, you have to be careful with the definition of it. Every country rates the standard differently.

For example, in the UK the threshold is if you are able to use the Yellow Pages to call a plumber if you need one.

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Originally posted by Ushgarak
Yes, you will find information finding is a seperate skill from just being able to read words at all. I have plenty of learners who can read a book but cannot read a timetable or any reference work to save their lives.

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Originally posted by Bardock42
Ah, well, that's a really different thing then though. Or is that actually related? I mean is the ability to read standard books somehow related to the ability to find information? I mean, except for if you can't read at all you can't find the information, either.

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Originally posted by Ushgarak

But if you asked how much change they got from a pound for something costing 85p, they'll asnwer 20p quite easily.

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Originally posted by Ushgarak
Yes, it's related. It's basically down to being able to read a text non-sequentially, something most of us take for granted but that a surprising number of people never really think of to do.