title: ILLITERACY: FALLING… SLOWLY
The 2002 estimates and projections, collated by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, showed a steady fall in the number of illiterate adults:
1995 – 2000:
- the number of illiterate adults fell from an estimated 872 million to 862 million;
- from 22.4% to 20.3% of the world's population;
- on current trends, the Institute estimates this should drop to 824 million, or 16.5%, by 2010.