International Literacy Day

The 8 September was proclaimed International Literacy Day by UNESCO 14 C/Resolution 1.441 in 1966 to remind the international community of the importance of literacy for individuals, communities and societies, and the need for intensified efforts towards more literate societies. The issue of literacy is a key component of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The UN's Sustainable Development Agenda, adopted by world leaders in September 2015, promotes universal access to quality education and learning opportunities throughout people’s lives. Sustainable Development Goal 4 has as one of its targets ensuring all young people achieve literacy and numeracy and that adults, who lack these skills are given the opportunity to acquire them.

FORUM: International Literacy Day 2020, ''Literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond."

By exploring these questions, International Literacy Day 2020 provides an opportunity to reflect on and discuss how innovative and effective pedagogies and teaching methodologies can be used in youth and adult literacy programmes to face the pandemic and beyond. The Day will also give an opportunity to analyse the role of educators, as well as formulate effective policies, systems, governance and measures that can support educators and learning.

New literacy strategy for youth and adults; The new five-year UNESCO Strategy for Youth and Adult Literacy (2020-2025) has four strategic priority areas:


Statement by Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of International Literacy Day 2020, September 8th.

In celebrating International Literacy Day, we recall the fundamental right of everyone to develop the basic skills to read the world and write its future.

“Literacy”, said Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations,“is the key to delivering the potential of every human being; the key to opening up a future of freedom and hope.”

However, despite UNESCO’s continued commitment, historic literacy campaigns, national investment and the immense progress made by the majority of countries, despite the tenacity of all those who work daily for literacy, too many children, adolescents and adults are still deprived of this right. Some 617 million young people have not mastered basic literacy and numeracy skills – yet many of them are in school. There are a further 773 million illiterate adults, who are too often left behind. We must therefore redouble our efforts for these 1.4 billion people. This is all the more necessary as the educational crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has jeopardized the progress made in recent decades.

To overcome its consequences and continue to move forward, we need to focus on those who are on the front line: educators. We have seen their dedication during this unprecedented situation, but we have also witnessed their insecurity and deprivation, since the daily work of teaching literacy, however essential it is, receives too little recognition and support.

The first challenge is therefore to ensure that educators everywhere in the world are able to carry out their work under good conditions: by increasing their numbers to meet needs, by paying them fairly and by providing them with job stability.

We also need to empower them, however, by training them and supporting them throughout their practice. They must be able to benefit from proven educational methods that aim to tackle the inequalities linked to age, gender or specific vulnerabilities.

This support must continue throughout their practice to enable them to develop and adapt in all circumstances - particularly in the face of upheavals such as school closures. With two out of every three students in the world still unable to go back to school, widespread training of educators in distance education solutions is essential.

This exceptional situation has revealed, in particular, the full potential of new technologies. While these tools cannot replace the transmission of knowledge by humans, they can nonetheless be valuable allies. We must support their development and make them accessible to all learners –this will be an important aspect of our reflection on the Futures of Education. At a time when we need to reinvent a world of hope, literacy is more important than ever.

On this International Day, I thus invite all those involved in education to redouble their investments and mobilize all their resources to unleash the potential of each individual in the service of a shared world.

Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO


Events: List of ILD events around the world

The global celebrations of International Literacy Day on 8 September 2020 will be composed of two virtual meetings:

  • Meeting on ‘Literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond: the role of educators and changing pedagogies’ (13:30-15:30 in Paris time)

  • Meeting on the Laureates of the UNESCO International Literacy Prizes 2020 (16:00-17:00 in Paris time).

Both meetings will be accessible by registering through Zoom.

The International Literacy Day (ILD) 2020 Webinar will focus on Literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond with a focus on the role of educators and changing pedagogies. The International Literacy Day 2020 webinar will provide an opportunity to reflect on and discuss how innovative and effective pedagogies and teaching methodologies can be used in youth and adult literacy programmes to face the pandemic and beyond. More information:

10 targets for education… with Elyx!

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Ensuring that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults achieve literacy and numeracy is one of the ten targets for SDG 4: Education. Join Elyx, the UN's first digital ambassador, to discover how to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.


Teaching and learning literacy in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond:

International Literacy Day 2020 will focus on Literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond with a focus on the role of educators and changing pedagogies. The theme will highlight literacy learning in a lifelong learning perspective and therefore mainly focus on youth and adults. The recent Covid-19 crisis has been a stark reminder of the existing gap between policy discourse and reality: a gap that already existed in the pre-Covid-19 era and is negatively affecting the learning of youth and adults who have no or low literacy skills and therefore tend to face multiple disadvantages. During Covid-19, in many countries, adult literacy programmes were absent in the initial education response plans, so the majority of adult literacy programmes that did exist were suspended with just a few courses continuing virtually, through TV and radio, or in open air spaces.


Since 1967, International Literacy Day (ILD) celebrations have taken place annually around the world to remind the public of the importance of literacy as a matter of dignity and human rights, and to advance the literacy agenda towards a more literate and sustainable society. Despite progress made, literacy challenges persist with at least 773 million adults worldwide lacking basic literacy skills today.

Previous celebrations

International Literacy Day 2019 focused on ‘Literacy and multilingualism’.

International Literacy Day 2018 focused on 'Literacy and Skills Development.'

International Literacy Day 2017 focused on 'Literacy and the digital world'.

International Literacy Day 2016 focused on 'Reading the Past, Writing the Future” .

International Literacy Day 2015 focused on 'Literacy and Sustainable Societies'.

International Literacy Day 2014 focused on 'Literacy and Sustainable Development'.