One in Seven U.S. Adults Can’t Read

Staggering numbers released by the U.S. Education Department last month show that approximately 32 million U.S. adults cannot read a newspaper or the instructions on a bottle of pills. David C. Harvey, president and CEO of ProLiteracy, says in response to the study, “The crisis of adult literacy is getting worse, and investment in education and support programs is critical.” ProLiteracy also estimates that 774 million people worldwide are illiterate, and that two thirds of the world’s illiterate are women.