Two centuries ago, reading was the privilege of a tiny elite. 

Today it is a near-universal skill. 

The transformation of humanity from mostly illiterate to overwhelmingly literate is one of the great achievements of the modern age, and it happened remarkably fast.

TL;DR

• In 1820, only about 12% of the world’s population aged 15 and older could read and write, roughly one person in ten.
• Today the global literacy rate is 87%, meaning more than 5 billion people can read, compared with fewer than 100 million two centuries ago.
• The share who cannot read has essentially flipped, from nine in ten to one in ten.

The long-run figures here come from Our World in Data, combining historical estimates with UNESCO statistics.

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The great reversal

Literacy barely exceeded 20% in 1900 and only really took off from the 1950s, reaching 42% by 1960 and 70% by 1983. 

Most of the transformation is recent, compressed into the second half of the twentieth century.

Why literacy exploded so recently

For most of history, reading was unnecessary for daily life and expensive to teach, so it stayed rare. 

The takeoff came with mass public schooling, rising prosperity, and the recognition that literate populations were essential to modern economies. 

Europe pioneered basic education, but the truly global surge came after 1950 as newly independent nations built school systems. 

One caveat worth noting: early literacy measures often accepted minimal skills, such as the ability to sign one’s name, which fall short of modern standards.

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ELI5

Two hundred years ago, only about one in ten people could read. 

Today, almost nine in ten can. 

Most of that change happened in the last 70 years, as countries built schools for everyone. 

It is one of the biggest improvements in human history.

Sources

Our World in Data | Our World in Data(2) | World Economic Forum