Literacy is considered an index of socio – economic development of a country. The major factors which are affected by the rate of literacy are : level of economic development, urbanisation, standard of living, social status of women, availability of educational facilities and the policies of the government.
Level of development is both a cause and a consequence of literacy. There is a wide variation over the world in the literacy rates. In India, the per centage of people aged 7 and above can read, write and perform simple arithmetical calculations is about 70%.
