Please search throughout history and around the world and show me any democracy that survived with a greater than 50% illiteracy rate...
I would assume given the context of your comments that you are inquiring about adult literacy.
Given the geographical proximity and cultural commonalities, the best example to cite is India.
India has an adult literacy rate of about 50% according to published statistics – though I have seen it reported as somewhat higher. I think that the difference is probably a function of the year when the statistics were gathered as well as the cut-off age for adulthood.
overpopulation.com
However what is more significant is that India which has been a democracy for almost its entire history since its independence in the 1940s’ had an adult literacy rate of just 16% in 1951 and one can reasonably make the assumption that the rate has been well below 50% for much of its independent history.
The literacy rate in India, therefore, increased only from 16.67 per cent in 1951 to 24.02 percent in 1961.
col.org
The country's literacy rate in 1947 was only 14 percent and female literacy was abysmally low at 8 per cent.
meadev.nic.in
Although, I have responded to your question, IMO, there is no direct correlation between the literacy rate of a country and its adherence to democratic norms. If you contrast India and Pakistan, the former is less homogenous than the latter in some respects but what makes the difference IMO, is that the latter has had a history of its armed forces choosing to be involved in the political process.
A government cannot stay in power in Pakistan unless it has, at the least, the tacit support of the army. This is in marked contrast to India where the army prides itself in staying above the political fray. As I stated in another post, the armed forces of Pakistan flaunt some of the more superficial customs that they inherited from the British army but when it comes to issues of substance such as being apolitical, the army discards British traditions. |
