Literacy Could Raise Mexico’s GDP by 30 Percent, IEE Study Finds, Digi Mart USA News: A study by the Institute of Educational Evidence (IEE) finds that timely literacy could increase Mexico’s per capita gross domestic product by 29.9% by 2050. Currently, 47.6% of 10-year-old children in the country fail to reach the minimum level of reading comprehension.
The research suggests that if nine out of ten Mexican children of that age could read and understand a simple text, their educational opportunities would expand and the economic impact would be significant, with an estimated increase of 8.09 trillion dollars in cumulative economic output between 2031 and 2050.
The report notes that only 52.4% of 10-year-olds in Mexico currently have the necessary reading skills, a gap of 37.6 percentage points from the goal of 90% achieving this learning. The study emphasizes the importance of closing this gap to improve not only reading skills but also access to secondary education, school retention, employment and child health.
From an economic perspective, the IEE estimates that the additional output generated by this improvement in literacy would reach 8.09 trillion dollars over the two decades analyzed. Tax revenue could also increase by 1.15 trillion dollars over the same period.
Regionally, Mexico could rank second, behind only Brazil, in both the volume of additional economic output and potential tax revenue. The country would also be second in the number of young people who gain access to sustainable employment, underscoring the importance of investing in education and literacy as a driver of economic development.
