Functional Illiteracy and inability to read handwriting in the US

• On average, 79% of U.S. adults nationwide are literate in 2024.

• 21% of adults in the US are illiterate in 2024.

• 54% of adults have a literacy below a 6th-grade level (20% are below 5th-grade level).

• Low levels of literacy costs the US up to 2.2 trillion per year.

There isn't a precise percentage for how many Americans can't read handwritten script because it's not a standard measure of literacy, but a 2021 study showed 70% of Americans struggle to read handwriting and 45% couldn't read their own.

• ABA, Brighter Strides. “Dyslexia Statistics & Facts.” Brighter Strides ABA, March 10, 2025. https://www.brighterstridesaba.com/blog/dyslexia-statistics-and-facts/. 

• Bad Handwriting Causing a Big Problem in US Workplaces: Survey. January 25, 2019. https://nypost.com/2019/01/25/bad-handwriting-causing-a-big-problem-in-us-workplaces/. 

• Berger, Tom. “What We Lose With the Decline of Cursive.” Edutopia. Accessed September 13, 2025. https://www.edutopia.org/article/what-we-lose-with-decline-cursive-tom-berger/. 

• Cleveland Clinic. “Dysgraphia: What It Is, Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treatment.” Accessed September 13, 2025. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23294-dysgraphia. 

• “Dyslexia Statistics & Facts | Advanced Autism Services.” Accessed September 13, 2025. https://www.advancedautism.com/post/dyslexia-statistics-facts. 

• Gladstone, Kate. “A Different Approach to Reading Cursive Writing.” Dyslexia the Gift Blog, June 18, 2021. https://blog.dyslexia.com/a-different-approach-to-reading-cursive-writing/. 

• Handwriting Is Becoming Extinct and Teachers Are Battling to Keep Cursive Alive. April 23, 2024. https://nypost.com/2024/04/23/lifestyle/handwriting-is-becoming-extinct-and-teachers-are-battling-to-keep-cursive-alive/. 

• “Literacy.” The Policy Circle, n.d. Accessed September 13, 2025. https://www.thepolicycircle.org/briefs/literacy/. 

• National Literacy Institute. “2024-2025 Literacy Statistics.” Accessed September 13, 2025. https://www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/2024-2025-literacy-statistics. 

• Quora. “Why Is Some People’s Handwriting so Hard to Read? What Causes Their Writing Style to Look like Scribbles Instead of Actual Letters and Wo...” Accessed September 13, 2025. https://www.quora.com/Why-is-some-peoples-handwriting-so-hard-to-read-What-causes-their-writing-style-to-look-like-scribbles-instead-of-actual-letters-and-words. 

• The Guardian. “Signature Moves: Are We Losing the Ability to Write by Hand?” News. January 21, 2025.  https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/jan/21/signature-moves-are-we-losing-the-ability-to-write-by-hand. 

• Wikipedia. “Cursive handwriting instruction in the United States.” June 5, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cursive_handwriting_instruction_in_the_United_States&oldid=1294051690. 

• Writey. Why Has Cursive Writing Been Removed from the School Curriculum? | Writey. n.d. Accessed September 13, 2025. https://writey.app/post/why-has-cursive-writing-been-removed-from-the-school-curriculum/.

The reality of trying to reach out to children and adults about genealogy (family history) is set forth in these statistics. Genealogy is a complex and difficult topic. By and large, the people who are already proficient is doing genealogical research are literate and can read handwriting. Granted, artificial intelligence (AI) is making huge strides in transcribing handwritten documents but according to statistics about half the country do not have the basic skills they would need to understand and do genealogical research. 

The development of computer handwriting recognition and transcription helps only those who can read. A lack of reading skills prevents people from being able to check the accuracy of the processed handwriting. Obviously, I do not have a solution for these problems but when we are talking to people and trying to interest them in genealogy, we should be sensitive to the fact that many of them may simply lack the skills necessary to "do genealogy."