Illiterates, a term used to designate those persons who are unable to read or write, or both. The percentage of illiterates in a country furnishes one of the few means of estimating quantitatively the average level of intelligence, or at least of education, possessed by the people of that country.
Unfortunately a strict comparison cannot be made, because the statistics of illiteracy in different countries are not based upon one uniformly recognised method of obtaining them. (1) A few countries—e.g. the United States, Hungary, Italy, and Portugal, and the Australian colonies of Victoria and Tasmania—have endeavoured to take an exact census of illiterates; in their enumerations all children below six years of age were excluded, except in the United States, which excluded all children below ten years of age.
| United States (1880). 22·15 p.c. | Hungary (1880)..... 57·14 p.c. |
| Italy (1881)..... 54·30 " | Portugal (1878)..... 79·07 " |
The high percentage of the United States is due to the low educational status of the Negro population. In 1881 there were in the colony of Victoria 23·80 per cent. of illiterates, and in Tasmania 43·78 per cent. Of the other methods that are employed to ascertain the number of illiterates (2) the most complete results are afforded by the enumeration of the men and women who, on the occasion of their marriage, are unable to sign their names in the registers. On this basis we have the following results for comparison in the year 1886 :
| Country. | Men. | Women. | Mean. |
|---|---|---|---|
| England and Wales..... | 9·60 | 11·50 | 10·55 |
| Scotland..... | 4·65 | 8·28 | 6·46 |
| Ireland..... | 23·40 | 25·30 | 24·35 |
| Victoria..... | 2·00 | 1·98 | 1·99 |
| New South Wales..... | 3·76 | 4·20 | 3·98 |
| Queensland..... | 4·52 | 6·71 | 5·62 |
| South Australia..... | 3·04 | 3·49 | 3·26 |
| New Zealand..... | 1·92 | 2·89 | 2·40 |
| Prussia (1884)..... | 3·81 | 5·11 | 4·21 |
| France (1882)..... | 14·39 | 22·62 | 18·50 |
| Italy (1887)..... | 42·36 | 62·80 | 52·58 |
It may be stated that while in England and Wales, in 1863, 23·8 per cent. men and 33·1 per cent. women signed their marriage register by mark, in 1897 the figures were only 3·3 per cent. men and 4·0 per cent. women. In Scotland in 1897 the proportion was 2·16 per cent. men and 3·27 per cent. women, while in several counties all signed their names. In Ireland, in the same year, the proportions were 15·1 per cent. men and 13·2 per cent. women. (3) The subjoined table gives the number of recruits who were unable to read and write in the respective countries named, and where universal conscription is in force :
| Baden (1884)..... | 0·02 | Holland (1887)..... | 8·5 |
| Württemberg (1884)..... | 0·02 | France (1886)..... | 10·30 |
| Bavaria (1884)..... | 0·08 | Belgium (1887)..... | 13·87 |
| Saxony (1884)..... | 0·15 | Austria (1888)..... | 25·00 |
| Sweden (1883)..... | 0·27 | Hungary (1888)..... | 38·60 |
| Denmark (1881)..... | 0·36 | Italy (1888)..... | 42·98 |
| Germany (1884)..... | 1·27 | Russia (1882)..... | 78·79 |
| Switzerland (1888)..... | 1·3 | Servia (1881)..... | 79·31 |
| Prussia (1884)..... | 1·97 |
(4) At the general election of 1886 in Great Britain and Ireland there voted in England and Wales 38,587 illiterate persons, in Scotland 4836, in Ireland 36,722, giving a percentage of 2·69 out of a total of 2,969,381 voters who went to the poll. (5) Out of a total of 34,473 persons of all ages arrested in the colony of Victoria, in the year 1887, 26,509 could only read or write imperfectly, and 3333 were totally unable to read, a percentage of 86·56 illiterates apprehended. Illiteracy among voters, both white and black, increased enormously in the south of the United States between 1870 and 1880. In Texas in 1870 there were 17,500 illiterate voters; in 1880 there were 33,085. But between 1880 and 1890 the illiteracy in the States was reduced to 13·4 per cent. of the total population. People unable to sign their name attest a document by making a cross, certified by a witness who can write.