The most literate? What are the stats these days?

• On average, 79% of U.S. adults nationwide are literate in 2024.

• 21% of adults in the US are illiterate in 2024.

• 54% of adults have a literacy below a 6th-grade level (20% are below 5th-grade level).

This from the Image … yes, the National Literacy Institute isn’t aware that the “I” in “NLI” already means “Institute.” PIN numbers aside, let’s look at just those three figures.

More than a fifth of the population being illiterate isn’t a promising start, but add the 54% below sixth-grade comprehension, and 75% can’t understand materials that are supposed to be mastered at 11 or 12 depending what time of the year you were born.

Given that only 79% are literate, and there’s no reference to subsets here, it’s understood that N is the same for all three statistics. That leaves 25% of adults at or above the sixth-grade level.

If one-quarter if the population being literate above the elementary level is a high-water mark historically, it’s a wonder we got as far as we did in science and technology and literally every form of progress over the decades.

It might feel good to think things are the best they’re ever been; the data don’t bear that out.

(Also, if you run a literacy org, maybe at least run your copy by an editor to avoid redundant embarrassments such as “U.S. adults nationwide.”)