OTTAWA, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Nearly half of all Canadian adults have low literacy level, according to a study revealed Tuesday.
The Canadian Council on Learning's Prose Literacy Map measures average adult literacy scores in 52,200 cities, town and communities across the country.
The online study reveals that some 48 percent of adults in Canada have low literacy levels -- at, or below, Level 2.
"Though many believe Canada is well-equipped on the literacy front, the fact is that nearly half of all adults have low literacy levels, meaning they are ill-prepared for the current demands of our rapidly changing world," CCL president Dr. Paul Cappon told Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
Prose literacy refers to the knowledge and skills needed to understand and use information from text, such as news stories, editorials, poems and fiction.
Adult literacy is often measured on a prose literacy scale of 1to 5. Level 3 is widely considered to be the minimum threshold for coping with the demands of the global knowledge-based economy.
The timing of the study coincides with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) International Literacy Day.
