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Zoe Spencer
28th March 2025

The Global Literacy Crisis: The Importance of Reading Opportunities for Children

For many, reading is a simple pleasure, offering not only a chance to expand vocabulary and encourage self-exploration, but also playing a crucial role in early personal and educational development. Without access to books, children struggle to integrate into society, form their own identity and learn to articulate in the way that adulthood demands. 

 

For many in low and middle-income countries, this is reality. In parts of Sub Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, the lack of reading opportunities significantly hinders not just children’s academic growth, but their personal progress meaning that many will never have the chance to escape a life of poverty. 

Schoolchildren in Lagos, Nigeria. Photo by Dough Linstedt
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Denying children access to reading means denying them the opportunity for further education, as well as the ability to progress socially, academically, and emotionally. 

 

A 2019 article in The Guardian revealed that 9 out of 10 children in the world's poorest countries cannot read a basic book by age 10—a stark contrast to wealthier countries, where only 9% of children face the same struggle.

 

Additionally, a 2022 World Bank report, in collaboration with UNESCO, UNICEF, the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, USAID, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, highlighted a significant increase in learning poverty in low- and middle-income countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

The pandemic saw a myriad of safety measures being implemented, including school closures, to curb the spread of COVID-19. Whilst children in wealthier countries had access to remote learning and received a range of support, children in lower-income countries faced significant barriers to their education. 

 

Learning disparities also exist within countries, with low-income families that reside in rural communities, as well as girls, being disproportionately affected by the lack of reading opportunities available. This data encouraged the World Bank to set ambitious targets to reduce the rate of ‘learning poverty’ by at least half before 2030. 

 

The countries with the poorest reading opportunities for children are often significantly impacted by conflict, violence, economic turmoil, and a lack of access to stable educational institutions. 

 

In Mali, over half a million children have been affected by school closures due to war making it difficult to keep up with school. Recent figures from UNICEF show that school aged children in Yemen represent 33% of the population—nearly a decade of conflict in the area has created what the UN calls an ‘education crisis’ in the country. 

 

In Chad, fewer than 34% of students were expected to complete primary school in 2023 and less than 0.2% of girls from the lowest income rural families completed their education in full. Other countries with the poorest reading opportunities for children include Senegal, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic.

 

 

Access to reading is the first step toward a brighter future. Photo by Josh Applegate

THE GENDER GAP WITHIN THE LITERACY GAP 

Nearly two-thirds of the approximately 781 million illiterate adults worldwide are women. 

 

This statistic shows the effect of barriers limiting girls’ access to reading opportunities and learning from a young age, denying them both an essential skill and a fundamental human right. Limited reading opportunities prevent girls from accessing books and learning materials that might encourage exploration and inspire creativity.

 

According to UNESCO, in low-income countries, female adult literacy rates were 54% in 2022, compared to 70% for men. In Afghanistan, just over two in ten women aged 15 and older can read and write, a figure that may be explained by the fact that in countries with strict traditional values, women are often confined to domestic spheres and pressured to marry and start families young. 

 

According to the UN, 33% of girls in low-income countries marry before the age of 18, significantly limiting their educational opportunities. In addition, a lack of toilets in schools leads to missed days for girls during their period. Without educational opportunity, girls are confined to their communities, forced to act out the roles assigned to them from birth due to cultural expectations. 

 

UNESCO also reported that up to 80% of school-aged girls currently out of school are unlikely to ever restart, compared to 16% of boys. Overall, girls are more likely than boys to be excluded from education, despite substantial efforts to encourage enrolment of girls into schools within countries where female education is undervalued. 

Why are reading opportunities vital?

Access to reading opportunities is a fundamental pillar of education and a crucial catalyst for lifting children out of poverty. Despite this, 250 million children world-wide are not in school and, therefore, lack access to important texts that will inform their learning. A UNESCO report revealed that if all students in low-income countries had basic reading skills, an estimated 171 million people could escape the cycle of poverty that prevents social mobility. 

 

Language barriers exacerbate the issue, as 37% of students in low- and middle-income countries are not taught in their mother tongue, limiting their reading opportunities and, therefore, their learning opportunities. Reading is fundamental to a child’s cognitive development, yet millions of children worldwide also lack access to books. 

 

In some of the poorest countries, textbooks are scarce, forcing multiple students to share a single textbook. Studies have shown that children who grow up with books are more likely to succeed academically and develop their critical thinking skills, yet barriers to education including natural disasters, underpaid teachers, and children leaving school for financial or familial reasons, impede children’s development by denying them access to reading. As children in lower-and middle-income countries grow older, many are pressured to drop out of school altogether to support their families, further perpetuating the cycle of poverty and illiteracy. 

 

Despite the poor reading opportunities for children globally, there is some potential for progress. The PAL Network is a partnership of 17 member organisations working to promote children’s foundational learning across Africa, Asia, and America. Their mission is to “generate enough evidence through assessments and action to inform, influence and improve children’s learning”. 

The PAL Network is a south-south partnership of 17 members working across Africa, Asia and America to promote children's foundation learning. Photo taken from their website.

PAL (The People's Action for Learning) is one of many organisations that exist to promote and prioritise better reading opportunities for children. Initiatives such as the Global Book Alliance and Global Book Fund aim to help by increasing the availability of high-quality books in local languages, improving distribution networks, and strengthening supply chains. 

 

The World Bank’s Read@Home initiative aims to alleviate the detrimental and lifelong consequences of poor reading opportunities for children by expanding access to quality reading materials and reducing the cost of distributing books. In Senegal, for example, Read@Home is supporting the government to distribute books in several languages, as well as providing support to parents and caregivers. 

 

Digital solutions also play a crucial role in expanding access to books. Platforms like Global Digital Library provide free books in multiple languages, helping children learn in a language they understand, rather than feeling isolated and under pressure to learn in a less than ideal scenario. 

 

By making books more affordable, accessible, and widely distributed, these initiatives are giving children the invaluable tools they need to learn, grow, and contribute to a brighter future for themselves, as well as tackling a serious learning crisis that prevents personal, educational, and fundamental growth. With continued investment into these programmes, increased awareness of the poor reading opportunities for children globally, and a rise in accessible resources, there is hope for a future in which children across the world can break from cycles of disadvantage, poverty, and oppression through the power of reading.

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