This section is from the book "Hill's Manual Of Social And Business Forms: A Guide To Correct Writing", by Thos. E. Hill. Also available from Amazon: Hill's Manual Of Social And Business Forms: The How-To-Do-Everything Book Of Victorian America.
The per cent, of illiteracy in the scale of 100 among the people of different countries is shown in the following table, as taken from Kiddle & Schem's Cyclopaedia of Education, New York. 1877:
Country. | Year. | Per Ot. of Illiteracy . |
India............... | 1871. | 95 |
Mexico............. | Recent | 93 |
Poland............ | Recent | 91 |
Russia............ | Recent | 91 |
Argentine Rep..... | Recent | 83 |
Greece............ | Recent | 82 |
Spain............. | 1860. | 80 |
Italy.............. | 1861. | 73 |
Hungary.......... | Recent | 51 |
China............ | Recent | 50 |
Austria........... | Recent | 49 |
Ireland........... | Recent | 46 |
England........... | Recent | 33 |
Belgium........... | Recent | 30 |
France............ | 1872 | 30 |
United States....... | 1870. | 20 |
Netherlands....... | Recent | 18 |
Scotland......... | Recent | 16 |
Japan........... | Recent | 10 |
Illiteracy in the U. S.
By the census of 1880, persons over ten years old that could not write:
Whites................... | 2,851,911 |
Colored.................. | 2,798,689 |
Natives.................. | 4,880.271 |
Foreigners................ | 777,873 |
Could not read, total....... | 4,528,084 |
 
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