The desire for governments to understand the level and distribution of literacy within their adult population spurred the need to measure adult literacy directly. Moreover, an inquiry into literacy problems and consequent policy lessons across industrialized countries created the need for a set of comparable international data. In the IALS, large samples of adults worldwide were given the same broad test of their literacy skills. The data provide the most detailed portrait ever created on the condition of adult literacy and its relationship to various background and demographic characteristics. The CD contains the IALS microdata file, a User's Guide, and a record layout for each of the participating countries.
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