Although a significant proportion of the general population has low health literacy, certain groups have an even higher prevalence of the problem. Such groups include the elderly, minorities, individuals who have not completed high school, adults who spoke a language other than English before starting school, and people living in poverty. 14 12 For instance, the NAAL demonstrated a higher prevalence of poor health literacy among the elderly. Compared with the 36 percent of all adults who scored in the bottom two categories on the NAAL survey, 59 percent of adults age 65 and older scored in the “below basic” and “basic”.
