Nearly half of people in Detroit cannot read



Nearly half the population of Detroit are unable to read, research has revealed.

The study, released by the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund, found that 47 per cent of adults in the Motor City are ‘functionally illiterate’.



That means they struggle to complete daily tasks such as reading a bus timetable, filling out a job application form or reading a label on a medicine bottle.



Problems: Study found that 47 per cent of residents in Detroit could not complete basic tasks

Shockingly, virtually the entire illiterate population had completed elementary school – the level at which reading is theoretically taught.



The report noted that half of the illiterate population had either a high school diploma or a GED.

Residents in the Michigan city were found to be lacking the basic skills needed for employment in even the most entry-level jobs.



Karen Tyler-Ruiz, director of the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund, said: ‘Increasing adult educational attainment is critical to connecting the one in two city residents who are currently unemployed and underemployed to good jobs in our new economy.



‘This is a critical opportunity for Detroit, where we know that access to services to improve basic skills like reading and math are extremely limited in and around the city.’



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The problem is not limited to the city. The report found that suburbs, such as Pontiac (34 per cent), Inkster (34 per cent) and Southfield (24 per cent), also suffered high rates of illiteracy.



The city, which was once at the centre of America’s industrial muscle, has been devastated by the global recession.



The population of Detroit has dropped by 25 per cent in the past ten years and is now at its lowest since 1910.



Almost a third of the city's 140 square miles is vacant or derelict.



Figures released in the 2010 Census Data showed that the city's population fell to 713,777 from 951,270 in 2000, when the last census was taken.



Devastated: One third of land in Detroit is abandoned with derelict buildings such as the William Livingston House

The fall was blamed on the struggling automotive industry, plant closures and job losses.



Nearly a century ago, the expansion of the auto industry fuelled a growth spurt that made the Motor City the fourth-largest in the country by 1920, a place it held until 1950 when it was at 1.85million,



By 2000, Detroit had fallen to tenth place.