According to senior healthcare academics at HealthLiteracy.org England has low levels of basic general literacy and numeracy. According to senior healthcare academics at HealthLiteracy.org England has low levels of basic general literacy and numeracy. The Skills for Life Survey showed that 46% of participants (equivalent to 17.8 million people in England) scored at a literacy level below that required to achieve their full potential, with 3% (=1.1 million people) at the very lowest level, being functionally illiterate. The figures are even worse for numeracy with 75% (= 23.8 million people) scoring at a level below that required to achieve their full potential with 5% (=1.7 million people) being functionally innumerate. It is, therefore, very likely that levels of Health Literacy and Numeracy are similarly low, and that for many people low HL acts as a significant barrier to achieving and maintaining good health.
Research from the US shows that people with low Health Literacy have less understanding about their health, poorer health and higher mortality than people with adequate Health Literacy. The Department of Health (England) recognises the likely importance of low HL as a barrier to health in England; it is a key part of the new Health Inequalities strategy. The Department is committed to working to provide evidence to understanding more about the impact of low HL and ways to reduce that impact on peoples’ health.