Houde-Pinard Daphnee Literacy Rates Impact

The impact of literacy rates

Daphnée Houde-Pinard

Some definitions Literacy rate: the percentage of the population 15

years and older who can read and write. Nations often have unique methods to define literacy. It can be calculated for male and female also. (Dowling)

Male literacy rate: the percentage of the male population 15 years and older who can read and write. (Dowling)

Female literacy rate: the percentage of the female population 15 years and older who can read and write. (Dowling)

Some definitions GDP per capita: An approximation of the value of

goods produced per person in the country, equal to the country's GDP divided by the total number of people in the country. (Investor Words)

Fertility rate: The average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates through her lifetime, and she were to survive from birth through the end of her reproductive life. (Wikipedia)

Murder rate: the ratio of people murdered in an area to the population of that area. (The Free Dictionary)

A world map showing the literacy rates

http://wikieducator.org/images/8/82/World_literacy_rate_map.png

College enrolment in Canada from 1993/1994 to 2006/2007

800.0

850.0

900.0

950.0

1,000.0

1,050.0

1,100.0

874.6

859.0

846.4

829.8

822.8

826.4

847.0

850.6

886.7936.4

993.8 1,019.8

1,052.3 1,057.3

Colleg

e e

nro

lmen

t (

in h

un

dre

ds

of

thou

san

ds)

http://www41.statcan.gc.ca/2009/1821/tbl/cybac1821_2009_000_t06-eng.htm

Level 1: People with difficulty reading

Level 2: People with limited skills who read but not well

Level 3: People who read well but have problem with other tasks

Level 4 or 5: People with strong literacy skills

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4 or

520%

33%

22%

26%

Level of literacy in Canada in 2000

http://www.literacy.ca/themes/mcl/PDF/litforlife/canada.pdf

The male and female literacy rates of the ten countries with the smallest literacy rates in 2006

Iraq SenegalGambia, The

SomaliaAfghanistan

GuineaBenin

Sierra Leone

Burkina Faso

Niger

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

40.4% 40.2% 40.1%37.8%

36.0% 35.9%33.6%

29.6%26.6%

17.6%

55.9%

50.0%

47.8%49.7% 51.0% 49.9%

46.4%

39.8%36.9%

25.8%24.4%

30.7%32.8%

25.8%

21.0% 21.9% 22.6%20.5%

16.6%

9.7%

Literacy rateMale literacy rateFemale literacy rate

Lit

era

cy r

ate

(%

)

http://www.mrdowling.com/800nations.html

Correlation between the GDP per capita and the literacy rate in selected countries in 2006

0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 40,00045

55

65

75

85

95

105f(x) = 0.00139722833885526 x + 57.4867318659303R² = 0.790557854391802

GDP per capita (in $)

Lit

era

cy r

ate

(%

)

http://www.mrdowling.com/800nations.html

Correlation between literacy and fertility rates in selected countries in

2003

1 2 3 4 5 6 725

35

45

55

65

75

85

95

Fertility rate

LIt

era

cy r

ate

(%

)

http://www.indexmundi.com/g/correlation.aspx?v1=31&v2=39&y=2003

R = - 0.82

Relationship between literacy rate and murder rate in the ten countries with the highest murder rate

25 45 65 85 105 125 14565

70

75

80

85

90

95

Murder rate (murder per 100,000 people)

LIt

era

cy r

ate

(%

)

http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/countries-with-highest-murder-rates.htmlhttp://www.mrdowling.com/800nations.html

R = - 0.26

Conclusion College enrollment in Canada has increased from the school year of 1993-1994 to the one of 2006-2007. In fact, it went from 874,600 enrolled students to 1,057,300.

Canada’s literacy rate may be very high, but only 20% of the population attains a level of literacy of 4 or 5, that is, possessing strong literacy skills.

In the ten countries with the smallest literacy rate, the male literacy rate is always higher than the female one.

There is a strong and positive correlation between a country’s literacy rate and a country’s GDP per capita.

Conclusion

There is a strong negative relationship between the literacy rate of a country, and the fertility rate of this same country.

There is a weak correlation between the literacy rate of a country and this country’s murder rate, in the ten countries with the highest murder rates.

Finally, the literacy level of a country greatly influences many social and economic features of this country.