Give geographical reasons : Literacy rate of a country is an indicator of its socio-economic development.

Answer: Literacy reflects the level of education, which is closely linked with quality of life, skills, employment and income; hence higher literacy indicates higher socio-economic development.

• Literate people can acquire skills and knowledge, get better jobs, use modern technology and earn higher incomes, which raises the standard of living.
• Literacy leads to awareness about health, hygiene, family planning and rights, so birth rates and death rates fall and life expectancy rises.
• Literacy is related to urbanisation, industrialisation, status of women and access to facilities. Developed countries have very high literacy (nearly 100%), while many less developed countries have low literacy.
• Therefore the literacy rate is used as an important indicator (it is also a part of the Human Development Index) of the socio-economic development of a country.