State of Literacy in Sub-Saharan Africa
The International Literacy Day (ILD) is marked each year on 8 September as a day of reflection, re-thinking and re-imagination on matters related to literacy at all levels, global, regional, national, and local. On the occasion of the 2019 ILD, it is important to take stock of the state of literacy in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). As a region, SSA has been saddled with multiple and complex challenges when it comes to the field of literacy. Sub-Saharan Africa has one-seventh of the world population. Yet it accounts for over a quarter of illiterate adults and nearly half of illiterate youth worldwide. According to the latest available data (2015) SSA is home to 203.4 million adults (15 years and above) who lack basic literacy skills. The data also indicates that SSA had not been part of the impressive improvements in literacy rates recorded by most countries in all other regions between 1990 and 2015. In fact, the number of illiterate adults in SSA rose steadily, increasing from 142