And literacy is, predictably, up as well.
Increased access to education has, unsurprisingly, coincided with increased literacy. A lot of progress has also been made by reducing racial gaps in literacy. In 1870, 79.9 percent of African-Americans aged 14 or older were illiterate, and by 1950 that number had only fallen to 10.6 percent or so. But by 1979, according to National Center for Education Statistics data, the illiteracy rate was down to 1.6 percent.