How many oral culture people are there in the world today?
According to UNESCO Institute for Statistics, there are approximately 1 billion adult illiterates in the world today they cannot read. This number is significantly understated as most of the data comes from self-reporting studies and governments who use a very broad definition for literacy. For example, Malaysia, counts anyone age 10 or over who has ever enrolled in school as being literate. A more accurate number of adult illiterates is closer to 1.3 billion. However, illiteracy statistics do not fully grasp the magnitude. The issue is not merely concerning those who cannot read. The ‘functionally illiterate’ or semi-literate may read or sound out words, but generally do not comprehend the message. For example, when handed a prescription a semi-literate may be able to ‘read’ the words, but not understand the instructions for dosage and frequency. So when considering the total number of oral culture adults, functionally illiterates, semi-literates, and even some literates who prefer to
