一、继续加强扫盲工作扫除文盲仍是20世纪末对成人教育提出的一项重大而急迫的任务。据统计,1985年世界上约有85700万人,几乎占世界成人总数的四分之一。虽然经过了30年世界性的扫盲运动,世界文盲的百分比有所下降,但由于世界人口的增长,文盲人数仍在不断增加,如此下去,预计到本世纪末将增至91200万人。据资料表明,世界文盲的98%集中在亚、非、拉和加勒比地区等一些经济较为落后的地区。在亚洲15岁以上的文盲,竟占世界文盲总数的四分之三,达6亿人之多。然而既使在工业发达国家,文盲人数也是很惊人的。联邦德国教师协会主席伯 I. Continuing to Strengthen Literacy Work Eliminating illiteracy remains a major and urgent task for adult education at the end of the 20th century. According to statistics, in 1985 there were about 857 million people in the world, accounting for almost one quarter of the total number of adults in the world. Although the percentage of illiterates in the world has declined after 30 years of worldwide literacy, the number of illiterates continues to increase as the world’s population grows. It is estimated that by the end of this century the number of illiterates will increase to 91.2 million. According to the information, 98% of the world’s illiterates are concentrated in some economically backward areas such as Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Illiterates over the age of 15 in Asia account for as much as three-quarters of the world’s illiterates, reaching as many as 600 million. Yet even in industrialized countries, the number of illiterate people is staggering. Federal German Teachers Association, Chairman