Do one in five Oklahomans struggle with low literacy or functional illiteracy?

About 20% of Oklahomans ages 16-24 could be functionally illiterate or possess a limited ability to comprehend written material, according to recent data from a national survey done by the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies.

Though potentially capable of understanding basic vocabulary and short texts well enough to perform simple tasks like filling out forms, an estimated 560,000 Oklahomans fall below the state/national average literacy level and find it difficult to synthesize more than one source of written information, make low-level inferences, or paraphrase.   

The proportion of Oklahomans with low literacy skills is consistent with the national percentage of 22. 

Two-thirds of low-literacy Americans are born in the U.S., and 35% are white.

U.S. literacy proficiency declined from 2012-2023, reflecting the trend across all OECD countries surveyed. Each, except Denmark and Finland, saw stagnating or declining literacy proficiencies.