World Bank Document

ple, approximately 50 percent of the U.S. population at literacy level
1 has physical and mental health problems, compared with less than
2 percent of the U.S. population at literacy level 5 (U.S. Department
of Education 2002) (see figure 4).

Poverty.In industrialized countries, poverty also relates to literacy. For
example, almost 45 percent of the U.S. population at literacy level 1
lives in poverty, compared with less than 5 percent of the population
at literacy level 5 (U.S. Department of Education 2002) (see figure 5).
As with health problems, the relationship between poverty and liter-
acy in the U.S. population is a gradient.
These findings raise two interesting questions:

• Why does literacy competence relate to life expectancy, health,
  and poverty?


• How does experience-based brain development during early
  childhood effect the brain pathways that influence not only lit-
  eracy, but also life expectancy, health, and income in adult life?

It could be argued that because Canada and the United States have a
mixed immigrant population, in contrast with the more homogeneous

Scientific Underpinnings of the Importance of ECD in a Global World 67

Percent

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Health problems

Mental or emotional problems

Long-term illness

123 45

Level

Figure 4. Literacy Levels by Physical, Mental, or Other Health Conditions, U.S.A.

(Quantitative)

Source:Adapted from U.S. Department of Education 2002, p. 44.