More than half of American adults read below a sixth-grade level, a record high number that experts call a “silent crisis” affecting the economy, health care and communities nationwide.
About 54 percent of Americans ages 16 to 74 read at or below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level – around the age 11 or 12 – according to data cited by the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. That amounts to around 130 million people.
