People
Needing
Literacy
Education
(Millions)

space

Notes:
1) The information contained in the table and graph above is extracted from the 2005 Edition of the World Factbook maintained by the United States Government Central Intelligence Agency.  All information is in the public domain.  
2) The information in Column 5 (colored green) is not in the Factbook, but is derived by this web site.  It is a rough order of magnitude (ROM) estimate of the nonrecurring cost to eliminate illiteracy within that country.  This ROM cost estimate uses the data from the World Factbook and the following simplified rationale:

• Assumption # 1.  School teachers / Educators should be paid at least twice the average wage within a given country - hopefully that will be sufficient to encourage capable people to become educators and it will convey a sense of their importance to that society.
• Assumption # 2. Class sizes should be no larger than 20 students / class
• Assumption # 3. Equal educational opportunities are made available to all females and males in the population.  All humans have the potential to learn.  Any action that denies them the opportunity to be educated is a form of violence.
• Assumption # 4  Assume the estimated non-recurring annual cost occurs for about 5 years. This time frame should be reasonable to educate the current illiterate population (youth and adults) so they are able to read and write.   After that period, educational costs could return to recurring levels required to educate the youth entering the educational system.

Cost to Eliminate Illiteracy = Number of People Needing Education / 20 People per Classroom  X 1 Teacher per classroom  X  Twice the Average Per Capita Income

3)  Column 6 (colored in light blue) is the ratio of "the nonrecurring cost to eliminate illiteracy" to that country's "Gross Domestic Product (GDP)." 

Chart constructed by:  Milt Hetrick, 6/2005

Global Education: Literacy by Country