The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has conducted the 2024 Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS), which aims to gather data as bases in determining the state of literacy in the country.

The 2024 FLEMMS adopts a revised operational definition and methodology for measuring basic and functional literacy as approved by the PSA Board through Resolution No. 13, Series of 2024.

Basic literacy is defined as the ability of a person to read and write a simple message in any language or dialect with understanding, and to compute or perform basic mathematical operations.

Functional literacy is the ability of a person to read, write, compute and comprehend. In addition to the basic literacy skills, functional literacy includes higher level of comprehension skills, such as integrating two or more pieces of information and making inferences based on the given information.

Basic literacy rate is computed for individuals 5 years old and over, while functional literacy rate is computed for individuals 10 to 64 years old.

Basic Literacy Rate in Oriental Mindoro

The 2024 FLEMMS results showed that 84.2 percent or 8 out of 10 individuals in Oriental Mindoro aged 5 years and over had basic literacy. This translates to approximately 702 thousand individuals aged 5 years and over who can read, write, and compute out of the estimated 834 thousand individuals in the same age group.

In terms of sex, basic literacy rate was higher for females at 86.2 percent compared to males at 82.3 percent in Oriental Mindoro. By age group, individuals 15 to 19 years old had the highest basic literacy rate at 95.3 percent. On the other hand, individuals 5 to 9 years old recorded the lowest at 69.3 percent. (Figures 1 and 2)

12 out of 100 individuals cannot read and write

Among individuals 5 years old and over, 12.4 percent or about 12 out of 100 individuals cannot read and write or are classified as illiterate in Oriental Mindoro. The proportion of individuals aged 5 years and over who cannot read and write was observed to be higher among males (14.4 percent) than females (10.4 percent). On the other hand, there were 3.4 percent or about 3 out of 100 individuals who can read and write only or are classified as low literate in the province. Further, the proportion of individuals aged 5 years and over who can read and write only was higher in females (3.5 percent) than males (3.3 percent). (Figure 3)

Functional Literacy in Oriental Mindoro

The functional literacy rate in Oriental Mindoro in 2024 revealed that 69.6 percent or about 7 out of 10 individuals aged 10 to 64 years were functionally literate. This translates to around 466 thousand individuals aged 10 to 64 years who can read, write, compute, and comprehend out of the estimated 669 thousand individuals in the same age group.

By sex, females recorded a higher functional literacy rate at 73.9 percent compared to males at 65.6 percent. Among age groups, individuals aged 20 to 24 years registered the highest functional literacy rate at 82.7 percent, while those aged 60 to 64 years had the lowest rate at 55.4 percent.

The gap between basic literacy and functional literacy was highest in the age group 50 to 59 years

Among Filipinos aged 10 to 64 years, 88.1 percent had basic literacy while 69.6 percent had functional literacy. This means that for every nine individuals aged 10 to 64 years who can read, write and compute, two individuals have comprehension difficulty.

The gap between basic literacy and functional literacy was highest in the age group 50 to 59 years. This indicates that for every five individuals who can read, write and compute, one had comprehension difficulty. (Figure 6)

(SGD) CHARLYN ROMERO-CANTOS, PhD
(Chief Administrative Officer)
Officer-in-Charge
Oriental Mindoro Provincial Statistical Office