The United
Nations reports that although there were still a staggering 780 million illiterate
people aged 15 or older in the world in 2004, the good news is that 82% of all
people are literate today, compared to just 63% as recently as 1970.2 But almost
two-thirds of the world’s illiterate people are women.
Despite such outstanding achievements, developing countries continue to
face great challenges as they seek to continue to improve the health and education
of their people.