Margaret was just like millions of adult Canadians who function every day at a basic literacy level. Adult literacy is measured on two scales: prose and document. Literacy skills are rated from Levels 1 to 5, Level 1 being the lowest. Level 3 is equivalent to completing high school. According to the 2005 International Survey of Reading Skills, Level 3 is the minimum level where adults need to be to handle the new skills that are demanded of them today.

Check out these 2003 Canadian statistics from the International Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey:

• 42% of adults (about 9 million) aged 16–65 fell below Level 3 on the prose scale.

• 15% of adults (about 3.1 million) aged 16–65 were at Level 1 on the prose scale; that’s below middle school skills. At Level 2, were another 27% of adults (5.8 million). Level 2 is below high school skills.

• 35% of adults aged 16–65 were at Level 3 on the prose scale.

• Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Québec, and Nunavut have more people with low literacy than the national average.
  
  
• British Columbia, Yukon, Alberta, and Saskatchewan have fewer people with low literacy than the national average.
  
  
• The two youngest age groups (16–25 and 26–35) had the highest literacy levels in 2003.
  
  

Graphs adapted from the International
Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS) 2003,
Statistics Canada.

Statistics from the International Adult Literacy
and Skills Survey (IALSS) 2003,
Statistics Canada.

 

 

 

 

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