This paper reviews what we have learned over the past decade about financial literacy and its relationship to financial decision-making around the world. Using three questions, we have surveyed people in several countries to determine whether they have the fundamental knowledge of economics and finance needed to function as effective decision-makers. We find that levels of financial literacy ar...

In the context of the UN Literacy Decade (declared in February 2003), the present paper suggests three parameters that should be considered when new tools for assessment are considered in less developed countries (LDCs), each of which poses a special challenge to international comparative literacy assessment, such as in the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS): * Smaller: Assessment metho...

This article uses findings from a UK Department of Health funded research study known as Net.Weight to reflect on the concept of information literacy as it relates to consumer health. It explores how the results support and develop an understanding of information and health literacy and it offers recommendations for policy and practice. The study was located in the city of Brighton & Hove and e...

Objective: The aim of the present systematic review was to investigate the evidence on the association between food literacy and adolescents’ dietary intake. Design: The review included searches of six databases with no restriction on the year of publication or language. Setting: The studies eligible for review were from five countries/regions: USA (n 6), Europe (n 4), Australia (n 1), Middle E...

This concluding article comments on what we learned from the conference, what we still need to know, and what we need to do now. It describes what participants said about the impact of the conference and the follow-up steps that have been taken so far. In terms of what we learned, there was agreement on the importance of culture in understanding literacy and health literacy; the importance of c...

The more that information and communication technologies become central to modern society, the more it is imperative to identify, and to manage the development of the skills and abilities required to use them. Within both academic and policy discourses, the concept of media literacy is being extended from its traditional focus on print and audiovisual media to encompass the internet and other n...

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present systematic review was to investigate the evidence on the association between food literacy and adolescents' dietary intake. DESIGN The review included searches of six databases with no restriction on the year of publication or language. SETTING The studies eligible for review were from five countries/regions: USA (n 6), Europe (n 4), Australia (n 1), Middle ...

This paper introduces the reader to the context for the papers in this journal supplement by describing the background and task assigned to the authors, a short history of the development of the field of literacy and health in Canada, some recent developments and opportunities, some information on the nature and magnitude of the issue, and an overview of the supplement. The publication results ...

It can be argued that just as there are different kinds of literacy, there are different kinds of illiteracy. A ‘proximate illiterate,’ i.e. an illiterate who has easy access to a literate person, is clearly better off than someone without such access. The existing literature that takes account of these differences (1) defines an illiterate person to be a proximate illiterate if he or she lives...