Low US Literacy Levels Could Cost America $300 Billion per Year

In the United States, most adults read at a sixth-grade level or below.

Library books fill the movable stacks in the Smathers Library West at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla., on Feb. 20, 2023. Liberty Holt for The Epoch Times

Of all developed countries, the United States is the one losing the most money because of illiteracy, and more than half of its adults read at or below a 12-year-old’s level, a new study shows.

Low literacy skills likely cause mistakes that cost the United States about $300 billion every year, according to a report released in September by the World Literacy Foundation (WLF). Overall, the developed world loses about $803 billion to illiteracy every year, according to the study.