West Africa: Combating world's lowest literacy rates
DAKAR: Illiteracy rates in West Africa are the highest in the world, cramping development and weakening citizens' power to effect socio-economic and political change, say education agencies, who are calling on governments and donors to step up literacy and education efforts.
Sixty-five million West African adults - 40% of the adult population - cannot read or write according to a new study, "From closed books to open doors - West Africa's literacy challenge".
Of the 10 countries with the world's lowest recorded adult - 15 and older - literacy rates, seven are in West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Sierra Leone, the report says.
