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Literacy in India

Author

Listed:
  • Sandeep Kapur
  • Mamta Murthi

    (Department of Economics, Mathematics & Statistics, Birkbeck)

Abstract

Literacy refers to an individual’s ability to communicate through reading and writing. The literacy rate for any population measures the fraction of the population, above a certain cut-off age, that is literate. Based on the most recent statistics compiled by UNESCO, more than one in three Indians above the age of 15 years is unable to read and write. Further, the roughly 268 million adult illiterates in India constitute one-third of the global population of illiterates. International comparisons show that the Indian literacy rate is well below those for other populous countries like China and also below those for developing countries in general.

Suggested Citation

  • Sandeep Kapur & Mamta Murthi, 2009. "Literacy in India," Birkbeck Working Papers in Economics and Finance 0907, Birkbeck, Department of Economics, Mathematics & Statistics.
    • Handle: RePEc:bbk:bbkefp:0907
    as

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    File URL: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/7615
    File Function: First version, 2009
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Shawn Cole & Esther Duflo & Leigh Linden, 2007. "Remedying Education: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments in India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1235-1264.
    2. Gaurav Datt & Martin Ravallion, 1998. "Why Have Some Indian States Done Better than Others at Reducing Rural Poverty?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 65(257), pages 17-38, February.
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