Nearly one billion people over 15 are illiterate. Of these, the majority are women (64%), in rural areas and in poor countries. Three quarters of illiterate adults live in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. The follow-up report of the UNESCO Education for All program collects this data and denounces that Governments spare aid to teaching in the poor world. Universal basic education will only be possible if donors double their funds. Meanwhile we can confirm that at the beginning of the century about one billion people could not read or write, and in many cases using regional languages that are only verbal.
