Second-Order Wins✓✓ 2 independent sources
Humanity Learned to Read While Doubling in Size
65% → 88% adult literacy since 1975, while population doubled
UNESCO-based series report global adult literacy rising from 65.4% in 1975 to 87.7% in 2024, with the fastest gains in poorer countries that expanded schooling most. Because population doubled from 4.06 to 8.14 billion over the same period, the number of literate adults grew by several billion in absolute terms — progress hiding in plain sight.
In 1975 only about two-thirds of adults worldwide could read. Today nearly 88% do — even as the world's population doubled from 4 to 8 billion.