Literacy - Economic Impact

Economic Impact

Many policy analysts consider literacy rates as a crucial measure of the value of a region's human capital. For example literate people can be more easily trained than illiterate people - and generally have a higher socio-economic status; thus they enjoy better health and employment prospects. Literacy increases job opportunities and access to higher education.

In Kerala, India, for example, female and child mortality rates declined dramatically in the 1960s, when girls schooled according to the education reforms after 1948 began to raise families. In addition to the potential for literacy to increase wealth, wealth may promote literacy, through cultural norms and easier access to schools and tutoring services.

In 2009, the National Adult Literacy agency (NALA) in Ireland commissioned a cost benefit analysis of adult literacy training. This concluded that there were economic gains for the individuals, the companies they worked for, and the Exchequer, as well as the economy and the country as a whole - for example, increased GDP. The annual income gain per person per level increase on the Irish ten level National Qualifications Framework was €3,810 and the annual gain to the Exchequer, in terms of reduced social welfare transfers and increased tax payments, was €1,531.