Literacy: Every tenth adult finds reading exhausting

Almost three quarters of the population in Germany find it particularly important and necessary to be able to read: 71 percent of those over 16 agree with the statement that »reading is simply part of life«.

However, nine percent of the adults surveyed said that they found reading exhausting.

This is the result of a representative survey published by the Federal Ministry of Education and the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK).

The occasion is an interim review of the “National Decade for Literacy and Basic Education”, which has been running for five years.

It aims to permanently reduce the number of functionally illiterate people in Germany.

more on the subject

Study on illiteracy: Millions of people manage school without being able to read and write properlyBy Heike Klovert

The problem is big, as the last study in 2019 showed: According to this, 12.1 percent of adults in Germany only have low literacy skills.

This means that around 6.2 million people have difficulties reading and understanding warnings, magazines or instructions for use, for example.

Slightly more than half (52.6 percent) of the people with little knowledge of writing use German as their language of origin.

The new survey of 1,022 people aged 16 and over shows how people themselves rate their reading and information skills during the corona crisis:

• 56 percent of all respondents find it difficult to classify whether private contributions to Corona in social networks are trustworthy.

• Official corona announcements from offices and authorities are more often found by 44 percent of those surveyed to be difficult to understand.

• 40 percent of those who find reading difficult find it more difficult to understand information about current corona rules on news sites on the Internet - in contrast, it is only 26 percent in the general population.

The study

Who created the poll? Up arrow Down arrow

The survey "The importance of reading and writing for everyday life in a rapidly changing world" was carried out by the opinion research institute Allensbach on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and the Conference of Ministers of Education.

How was the data collected? Up arrow Down arrow

For the survey, 1022 people aged 16 and over were interviewed.

The interviews were conducted orally and face-to-face from November 28 to December 10, 2020.

How meaningful are the results? Up arrow Down arrow

According to the opinion research institute, the results are representative of the population in Germany aged 16 and over.

The results also show that reading behavior and perceptions of the importance of reading strongly depend on the socio-economic environment.

Federal Education Minister Anja Karliczek (CDU) said she found it "worrying that every tenth adult perceives reading as exhausting."

This makes it difficult for many people to access information.

Teaching reading skills for everyone is therefore one of the most important tasks of education policy: "At the same time, we have to write down information in easy-to-understand language and make some complex content available as a podcast."

more on the subject

• German courses for illiterate people: Cheika, 53, paints an eVon Heike Klovert

• Survey of primary schools: Germany's teachers pay so little attention to spelling by Lena Greiner

Britta Ernst (SPD), President of the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs, emphasized that it was important to »break down prejudices against those affected and support them with target group-specific measures«.

This included basic education offers in all age groups with the lowest possible entry barriers.

In the next five years the decade will be continued as a joint project by the federal and state governments.

In addition to specific course offers, it should also be about building up regional basic education centers and establishing them as permanent offers.

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