Worldreader

Who we are

Literacy is transformative: it increases earning potential, decreases inequality, improves health outcomes and breaks the cycle of poverty (UNESCO). Yet there are 740 million illiterate people in the world and 250 million children of primary school age who lack basic reading and writing skills (UNESCO). 

Worldreader is on a mission to bring digital books to every child and her family, so that they can improve their lives. Using e-readers, mobile phones and other digital technology, we reach readers in 69 countries, providing them with over 28,500 book titles in 43 languages. We currently work with over 140 publishers to acquire and digitize the most compelling and relevant content for our readers; 70% of our library comes from African and Indian publishers. 

Since 2010, we've reached over 5,653,216 people with books, with 1,110,196 people reading every month. Students in our e-reader programs improved 94% in mother tongue oral reading fluency after just 5 months, and girls in our program improved twice as fast in oral reading fluency as girls in neighboring schools, closing an existing gender gap. Reading on Worldreader Mobile is particularly popular with women, who spend on average 207 minutes reading per month, compared to 32 minutes for men (UNESCO). 

The increasing ubiquity and diminishing costs of digital technology enable us to work in an efficient and economical way. E-readers that cost over $300 when we started now cost less than $50, and digital books cost as little as pennies. 

Through our efforts and our partnerships with device manufacturers, mobile operators, teachers, governments, and the communities where we work, Worldreader is working towards a world in which every child and her family have the books they need to improve their lives, the practice of reading is commonplace, and where illiteracy is a thing of the past.