LEO 2018 - Living with Low Literacy (Scientific Use File)

The second Level-One Study 2018 (LEO 2018) measures the reading and writing skills of the German-speaking adult population (ages 18-64) and reports this differentiated for the lower skill levels of reading and writing - the so-called alpha levels. The study builds on the results of the LEO - Level-One study from 2010. The study includes a representative sample of 7,192 respondents. The goal of the study is to capture the current magnitude of the phenomenon of low literacy among adults. More than the previous study, it is devoted to concrete questions of participation, everyday practices, and competencies in various areas of life:
- Digital practices and basic skills
- Financial practices and basic skills
- Health-related practices and basic skills
- Political practices and basic skills
- Writing-related practices in the context of work, family, and everyday life
- Literacy in the context of continuing education
- Literacy in the context of migration and multilingualism
The results show that among German-speaking adults in 2018, about 12 percent read and write at a low proficiency level. Compared to the results of the LEO - Level-One study from 2010, this represents a decrease of 2.4 percentage points. Extrapolated to the population, about 6.2 million adults remain in the low literacy range (2010: 7.5 million adults).