Levels of literacy

So what can we say about the kinds and levels of difficulty with reading and writing that people have?

About 1 or 2% of Canadian adults have no literacy skills, or only extremely limited skills. The 1986 census shows that 1% of adults have no schooling, or kindergarten only. In a 1985 Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey, .5% of adults identified themselves as unable to read in any language. The 1989 Statistics Canada survey found 2% of adults said they had no reading skills in English or French and could not take the test.

About 5% of Canadian adults have difficulty reading signs, labels, and simple advertisements. In the Southam survey, 4% of people said they needed help reading product names in stores; 6% could not find the expiry date on a driver's license. The Statistics Canada survey found that 7% of people (including the 2% with no reading skills in English or French) were at "level 1" of reading ability: they had difficulty picking out familiar words in simple texts, for example looking over a supermarket ad to find the items on a grocery shopping list, or finding the long distance charges on a telephone bill.

About 15% of Canadian adults have difficulty using texts or documents to find simple information. In one part of the Southam survey, people were given a human interest news story to read, and asked two simple school-type ("locating information") questions; 13% answered one question incorrectly, and 20% the other. The Statistics Canada survey found 16% (including the 7% at level 1) were at "level 2" of reading ability: they had difficulty using a text to find what action to take, for example, seeing when a form is to be returned to a child's school, or finding the dosage for a seven-year old child on a box of pain medication.

Between 25% and 50% of Canadian adults have difficulty using texts and documents that are commonly used in organizational processes, depending on how complex, and how commonly used, those texts and documents are. In the Southam test, about 25% had trouble making out a cheque to pay a charge account statement; about 50% could not find a certain bit of information in a bus schedule. The Statistics Canada survey found 38% (including the 16% above) were at "level 3" of reading ability: they had difficulty performing relatively simple tasks with clearly laid out reading material, for example concluding from a brochure that to find out school hours, one must phone the local school.