| Prose | Document | Quantitative | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sweden | 282.9 | (15.2) | 292.7 | (10.9) | 288.8 | (11.8) |
| Finland | 280.2 | (9.6) | 280.0 | (9.7) | 272.9 | (9.3) |
| Germany | 269.5 | (7.7) | 277.3 | (5.2) | 282.4 | (4.7) |
| Czech Republic | 267.5 | (4.3) | 275.8 | (6.4) | 289.2 | (6.1) |
| Netherlands | 266.1 | (5.3) | 273.0 | (6.5) | 266.9 | (5.8) |
| Norway | 265.7 | (8.7) | 265.8 | (12.4) | 264.7 | (9.0) |
| Switzerland | 263.3* | (8.0) | 265.4* | (16.1) | 274.4* | (8.7) |
| Australia | 262.3 | (3.3) | 263.0 | (2.9) | 259.1 | (3.2) |
| United Kingdom | 261.0 | (5.5) | 261.3 | (6.6) | 251.4 | (6.3) |
| Belgium (Flanders) | 259.9* | (13.4) | 276.2* | (12.9) | 277.1* | (15.1) |
| Denmark | 257.5 | (4.4) | 277.4 | (5.6) | 272.5 | (5.5) |
| Average | 244.6 | (2.1) | 245.4 | (1.9) | 243.9 | (1.9) |
| New Zealand | 242.2 | (10.4) | 238.3 | (12.1) | 236.2 | (11.4) |
| Portugal | 237.9 | (4.6) | 237.7 | (7.5) | 244.2 | (6.4) |
| Ireland | 236.1 | (6.8) | 230.0 | (7.3) | 233.0 | (6.2) |
| Italy | 235.9 | (7.6) | 235.3 | (7.9) | 234.2 | (7.9) |
| Canada | 231.3 | (36.1) | 217.8 | (37.0) | 226.6 | (35.7) |
| United States1 | 227.7 | (4.0) | 228.0 | (4.3) | 221.9 | (4.1) |
| Poland | 227.1 | (4.9) | 217.4 | (6.7) | 224.0 | (5.6) |
| Hungary | 216.4 | (6.5) | 212.0 | (8.9) | 222.0 | (8.6) |
| Chile | 206.4 | (5.3) | 207.1 | (5.5) | 189.9 | (8.0) |
| Slovenia | 202.9 | (7.8) | 210.6 | (8.9) | 217.8 | (9.4) |
COUNTRIES ARE RANKED BY PROSE SCORES.
* Unreliable estimate.
1. Values for the United States youth population are derived from the US National Adult Literacy Survey (1992) because a sampling anomaly involving college students limits the comparability of the IALS data for this cohort.
Note: Belgium (Flanders) and Switzerland are excluded from Figure 2 because
the data are unreliable.
Source: International Adult Literacy Survey, 1994-1998; US National
Adult Literacy Survey, 1992.