(ORDO NEWS) — A low literacy rate already poses a lot of problems, but British researchers have found that it also worsens people‘s mental health.
We are now in the third decade of the 21st century, but about 14 percent of the world‘s population, or 773 million people, are still semi-literate or illiterate at all, and about two-thirds of them are women.
Literacy rates are lowest in developing and politically turbulent countries, where access to education is predominantly male.
It is known that a high level of literacy allows a person to get a good job and provide himself with better living conditions, while those unable to read and write are more likely to live below the poverty line and become involved in illegal activities.
Now, researchers from the University of East Anglia (UK) have found that around the world, people who are semi-literate are more likely to be diagnosed with mental health problems, such as depression and constant anxiety.
The researchers analyzed the results of 19 other scientific studies conducted in nine different countries (USA, China, Nepal, Thailand, Iran, India, Ghana, Pakistan and Brazil) and included data from almost two million people.
All of the studies assessed participants’ literacy and mental health levels, leading to conclusions about the relationship between one and the other around the world.
Despite the influence of a number of other factors (sex, age, economic status, and so on), a strong relationship between literacy and mental health was found in all studies.
Even among people living in the same country and occupying a similar economic situation, literate people were less likely to experience anxiety, depression, and other mental problems.
Scientists are not yet able to say exactly how these factors are interconnected: whether illiteracy contributes to the development of depression or constant depression causes problems with education.
However, taking care of the literacy of the population clearly not only increases the level of well-being and increases the life expectancy of people, but can also improve their mental health.
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