Of all fifteen-year-olds in the Netherlands, a quarter cannot read well.


Of all fifteen-year-olds in the Netherlands, a quarter cannot read well. Children need to get more pleasure in reading again, but unfortunately far too much time is spent on the terrible “reading comprehension” profession:

Can read? This makes life a lot easier, more fun and safer. But not everyone can read well:
2.5 million people in the Netherlands have difficulty reading, writing or arithmetic.
There are about 740.000 laaggeletterde employees in the Netherlands.
Of the people between 16 and 65 years with a VMBO or MBO-1 training 40% is laaggeletterd.

Underneath the surface, this often involves a lot of suffering. People lack a lot of information and therefore opportunities. Also on (the) work. Do you have any idea which employees and colleagues are at your company or with your client?

Laaggeletterdheid is often still a taboo. And therefore a great risk to occupational safety and health. A risk that I think we underestimate too much and too often. In Risk Inventory, it is rarely taken into account. That is why I am pleased with Stichting Lezen en Writing and their initiative 'The week of literacy. Laaggeletterdheid is a challenge that concerns us all.