UN General Assembly
1979

60. Another major undertaking of our Government is the campaign for the total elimination of illiteracy, which is the legacy of past despotic regimes and which is estimated to afflict the disturbing figure of 90 per cent of our population. At present, more than 1 million people are registered in the illiteracy campaign courses throughout the country. 61. Another important accomplishment of the Revolutionary Government is the successful completion of the national population census, done for the first time in the country. That will offer reliable scientific data for the developmental projects undertaken by the Government within the framework of the new five-year economic development plan of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. This plan is intended to remove the causes of the economic and social backwardness of the country and to provide decent conditions and higher standards of living for the Afghan people.