STATSCAN Links Literacy levels to health and voting

Magally Zelaya, staff

A recently published study from Statistics Canada links low literacy levels with poorer reported health, lower levels of societal participation, and low income. The study, entitled “Impact of literacy on earning for native-born Canadians”, was published on Nov. 30 and uses data from the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey that surveyed 22,000 Canadians.

In terms of a link between health and literacy, researchers found that 76 per cent of high-literacy individuals rated themselves as being in excellent or very good health as compared to only 30 per cent of low-literacy individuals.

When controlling for factors that could skew these numbers, such as age, years of schooling, and family income, the study still found that low literacy individuals are 16 per cent less likely to claim they are in good health.

“Whether this is causal is not clear, but it does raise serious concerns about the functioning of low-literacy individuals in Canadian society,” the study states.

Of the same individuals at the lowest end of the literacy scale, 11 per cent reported feeling anxious when dealing with basic mathematical calculations, such as calculating a tip. Only 3.8 per cent of high-literacy individuals reported the same anxiety about numbers.

In regards to social participation, 80 per cent of the low literacy group reported voting in the federal elections as compared to 84 per cent of those in the high literacy group.

This trend of lower participation rates among the low literacy group extended to participation rates in political organizations, communities, and schools.

The findings confirmed that “Literacy bears an important relationship to full participation in society,” as stated in the study.

However, there was an inconsistency in the trend when looking at voting rates in municipal elections where 68 per cent of low-literacy individuals reported voting as compared to only 62 per cent of high-literacy individuals.

Household income was found to have a correlation with literacy levels in those at the very top and bottom ends of the literacy and income spectrums.

Individuals at the bottom end, a portion that only consists of eight per cent of the population, were found to be “suffering from a double poverty.”

Not only are these individuals considered only marginally literate — a level that poses challenges for using a bus schedule — but they are also in the lowest end of the household-income spectrum.

“They are extremely disadvantaged in terms of their ability to function in society,” according to the report.

Ninety per cent of these individuals have fathers who had dropped out of high school, and 80 per cent of them were high school dropouts themselves.

The study also found that schooling is the primary determinant of literacy and that the levels of literacy decrease with age after individuals no longer participate in formal schooling. The study termed the findings the “use it or lose it” model.

In relation to the impact of literacy on labour-related issues, researchers found that a 25-point increase on the literacy scales translated into an increase in earnings consistent with an extra year of schooling.

Further, the literacy levels of those who engage in four or more reading and writing tasks per week as part of their jobs are 3.7 per cent higher on average.

On the other hand, those who rarely read and write at work were found to have a two per cent lower average literacy rate.

Whether people with higher literacy rates find jobs that require more reading and writing, or if having a job that requires more reading and writing increases the literacy of employees was not determined by the study.

The literacy rate for Canadians aged 15 and over is 99 per cent.