The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released the results of the 2024 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS). This report presents the estimates and rates of basic and functional literacy by age, sex and highest grade completed at the national, regional, provincial and highly urbanized city (HUC) levels.

The Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) is a nationwide household-based survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) generally every five (5) years since 1989. The last round of the survey was conducted in 2019, and the seventh in the series of literacy surveys will be conducted in October 2024.

Basic literacy rate is computed for individuals 5 years old and over, while functional literacy rate is computed for individuals 10 to 64 years old.

The 2024 FLEMMS adopts a revised operational and methodology for measuring basic and functional literacy as approved by the PSA Board through Resolution No. 13, Series of 2024.

For the first time, the 2024 FLEMMS will utilize the Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) System for the collection of the household questionnaire (Form 1) and individual questionnaire (Form 3).

Basic literacy is defined as the ability of a person to read and write a simple message in any language or dialect with understanding, and to compute or perform basic mathematical operations.

Functional literacy is the ability of a person to read, write, compute, and comprehend. In addition to the basic literacy skills, functional literacy includes higher level of comprehension skills, such as integrating two or more pieces of information and making inferences based on the given information.

A. BASIC LITERACY: NUEVA ECIJA

Highlighting the basic literacy status across provinces in Central Luzon, Nueva Ecija recorded the highest literacy rate in Central Luzon posting a remarkable 94.2 percent or 9 out of 10 individuals aged 5 years and over in Nueva Ecija are basically literate or one who can read and write a simple message in any language or dialect with understanding, and to compute or perform basic mathematical operations. 

Among the provinces in Central Luzon, Nueva Ecija recorded the highest basic literacy rate at 94.2 percent, exceeding the regional average by 1.4 percentage points. Bataan came next with 93.6 percent, followed closely by Bulacan at 93.5 percent, and Aurora at 93.0 percent. In national level, Nueva Ecija placed fourth among the top ten provinces with the highest basic literacy rates.

On the other hand, the lowest basic literacy rate in the region was registered in Tarlac at 89.5 percent, followed by Zambales at 91.1 percent and Pampanga at 92.0 percent.

When disaggregated by sex, the basic literacy rate among individuals aged 5 years and older was higher among females, registering at 94.8 percent. In comparison, their male counterparts posted a slightly lower rate at 93.7 percent. 

Analyzing the basic literacy rate by age group reveals that individuals aged 30 to 39 years old exhibited the highest literacy rate at 97.7 percent, reflecting strong literacy attainment among adults in their prime working years. In contrast, the lowest rate was recorded among children aged 5 to 9 years old at 86.3 percent.

The graph displayed in the figure illustrates the overall literacy levels in the province. It indicates that approximately 3.1 percent or roughly 3 out of every 100 individuals aged 5 years and older are considered illiterate, meaning they are unable to read and write. Additionally, about 2.6 percent, or nearly 3 in every 100 individuals, fall under the low literacy category, referring to those who possess only basic reading and writing skills. These figures emphasize that a significant majority of the population around 9 out of 10 individuals are classified as basically literate.

B. FUNCTIONAL LITERACY: NUEVA ECIJA

When considering both provinces and highly urbanized cities (HUCs) in Region III, the highest functional literacy rate was recorded in Angeles City at 77.9 percent. This was followed by the province of Bataan at 77.8 percent, the province of Pampanga at 75.0 percent, and Olongapo City at 73.1 percent. The province of Nueva Ecija placed 5th overall among both provinces and HUCs with a functional literacy rate of 72.9 percent.

However, if we focus solely on the provinces, excluding HUCs such as Angeles City (Pampanga) and Olongapo City (Zambales), Nueva Ecija ranks 3rd in Central Luzon. 

Meanwhile, the lowest functional literacy rate in Central Luzon was recorded in the province of Zambales at 63.9 percent. 

Consistent with the trend observed in basic literacy, females aged 10 years and over demonstrated a higher functional literacy rate at 75.2 percent, outperforming their male counterparts, who registered a lower rate of 70.8 percent.

Across different age groups, individuals aged 15 to 19 years posted the highest functional literacy rate at 79.5 In contrast, the lowest functional literacy rate was recorded among those aged 50 to 59 years, at 66.0 percent. 

This is a graph of the basic and functional literacy rates.  The orange bars represent the basic literate rates, and the blue bars are the functional literacy rates.
The difference between the basic and functional literacy rate represents the proportion of individuals aged 10 to 64 years who are basic literate but with comprehension difficulty.

For 10 to 64 years old, basic literacy rate is 96.0%, while functional literacy rate is 72.9, showing a gap of 23.1 percentage points. This indicates that:
For every 4 individuals aged 10 to 64 years who can read, write, and compute, 1 has comprehension difficulty.

The gap between basic literacy and functional literacy was highest in age group 50 to 59 years. This means that:
For every 9 individuals who can read, write and compute, around 3 have comprehension difficulty.

 

GIRLIE G. DE GUZMAN
(Supervising Statistical Specialist)
OIC-PSA Nueva Ecija
 

Technical Notes