Publication: What Factors Influence World Literacy? Is Africa Different?
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2005-01
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2012-06-22
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Ninety-five percent of the world s illiterate people live in developing countries, and about 70 percent are women. Female illiteracy rates are particularly high in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Niger and Burkina Faso, for example, more than 90 percent of women are illiterate. This paper presents a model of literacy. It shows that the main determinants of worldwide literacy are enrollment rates, average years of schooling of adults, and life expectancy at birth. Income has a weak nonlinear effect, negatively affecting literacy until a threshold level of per-capita income of about $2200 a year is reached and positively affecting literacy thereafter. Finally, African countries do not have a significantly higher literacy rate when controlling for other factors.
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“Verner, Dorte. 2005. What Factors Influence World Literacy? Is Africa Different?. Policy Research Working Paper; No. 3496. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8891 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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