Literacy Rate and the Standard of Living in Europe

What is Literacy Rate? A literate person is one who can read and write Major factor in whether a person can get a job and be successful in the workplace A country’s literacy rate is the percentage of the population over age 15 that can read and write

High Literacy Rates Most European countries have high literacy rates Many European countries are industrialized—they depend on manufacturing rather than farming for their wealth The increased wealth allows these countries to provide better education and health care The standard of living is high…

The standard of living (economic level of the people in the country) is often higher in countries where the literacy rate is high High Literacy Rate = High Standard of Living

The goal of every country is to have 100% literacy rates among its people One reason that many people cannot read/write is that their communities cannot afford to pay for teachers or schools Many governments, missionaries, & aid groups come to the poorest countries to assist the people in educating their children

Cycle of Poverty Having basic reading & writing skills is very important Without skills, workers are stuck in the lowest-paying jobs A cycle of poverty can develop when people cannot get an education… Illiterate people are forced to get low-paying jobs, so they cannot get enough money to pay for their children’s education…cycle continues for generations The standard of living remains low for these families because their education level is low

Cycle of Poverty Without the skills of reading and writing, workers cannot get better jobs Developing countries are poor, and their people are uneducated It is difficult to pay for education, when there is little money for food…

United Kingdom & Germany & Italy Literacy rate of both countries is nearly 100% Both countries have made large investments in human capital Workforce is very well trained & educated This has helped the standard of living in these countries improve over time

Russia Russia has the most poverty of the 3 countries… In the former Soviet Union, the government assigned everyone a job Today, workers must show that they are skilled & valuable to the business in order to keep their jobs Russia’s government is now spending large amounts of money to train workers & educate youth so that they have more opportunities to be successful in the economy Poverty is slowly declining, & Russia’s economy is growing