International Literacy Day

The International Literacy Day is marked every year on September 8th. Its main aim is to direct the attention to the problem of illiteracy, which is still present in most parts of the world. It was established by the UNESCO in 1967 in order to promote the importance of literacy.

During the last Population Census in Croatia, in 2001, the question on literacy was set up to persons without any education or with completed less than four grades of the basic education. Persons were considered to be literate if they stated to be able to read or write a standard text. Thereat, the language or script of the text did not make a difference. The results referred to the population aged 10 years and over. It should be mentioned that the criteria for defining the term “illiterate person” differ from country to country. More precisely, in some countries illiterate persons are defined as those who cannot either read or write, while in others as those who can neither read nor write.

According to the data of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, in 1953 the illiteracy was 16.3%, while in the next eight years it dropped to 12.1%. The 1991 Population Census had given the number of illiterate persons as 3.0%, which almost halved until the 2001 Population Census. According to that Census, the total of 69 777 illiterate persons were registered in Croatia, which made 1.8% of the population. The percentage of illiteracy was the highest among the population of over 60 years of age, who made as much as 77.62% of illiterate persons, while the lowest one was recorded among the population between 10 and 34 years of age, who made 7.17% of the total number of illiterate persons. Women made approximately 82% of illiterate persons in Croatia.

Regarding counties, the highest illiteracy rate was recorded in the County of Šibenik-Knin, 5.13% of the population. Out of the total number of illiterate persons in that County, as much as 92.18% were 60 years of age or over. The lowest illiteracy rates were recorded in the County of Primorje-Gorski kotar, 0.60%, in the City of Zagreb, 0.62%, and in the County of Meðimurje, 0.87%.

Did you know?*
- There are some 774 million illiterate persons in the world, which makes about 16.1% of the
population aged 15 years and over
- The lowest literacy rate, about 23%, was recorded in Mali

*Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics