Literacy By The Numbers

by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 6/27/2005

44 million: Number of adults who have difficulty using reading, writing and computational skills needed in everyday life

20: Percentage of adults who read at fifth-grade level or below

53: Percentage of 3–5-year-olds who are read to daily

77: Percentage of 3–5-year-olds who are read to more than three times per week who could read, or at least pretend to read, a storybook

57: Percentage of 3–5-year-olds who are read to less than three times per week who could read, or pretend to read, a storybook

39: Percent of adults needing help with everyday literacy tasks

68: Percentage of women on welfare with below average high school reading skills

$45,610: Average household income with the highest literacy levels

$15,480: Average household income with the lowest literacy levels

101: Total number of hours spent reading books, per person, in 1995

86: Total number of hours spent reading books, per person, in 2004

1,580: Number of hours spent watching TV, per person, in 1995

1,673: Number of hours spent watching TV, per person, in 2004