How much does an economy lose out because of illiteracy? A recent report by World Literacy Foundation titled Economic and Social Cost of Illiteracy answers to that question. Among the BRIC countries, China and India lead the losses owing to illiteracy with estimated yearly losses of US$ 135.6 bn and US$ 53.56 bn, respectively. The provisional data of the 2011 census suggests that about 74% of India's population aged 7 years and above is literate. As per the same report, illiteracy costs the global economy over US$ 1.19 trillion every year.

Data source: Firstpost