Premier Jennifer Smith yesterday launched the Island's first survey of literacy and life skills of the adult population.

"The data collected will help us establish a literacy benchmark for the adult population and to identify any skill shortages and deficits in technical skill sets," Ms Smith said at a Press conference yesterday.

"Armed with this information, Government will be in a position to put the necessary programmes in place to address identified problems."

Interviewers fanned out throughout the country yesterday evening to kick off the survey. A randomly chosen member of each of the 4,500 households selected by the Department of Statistics as a sample, will be asked to complete the survey documents - a two hour process.

The survey will measure prose literacy, document literacy, numeracy and problem solving skills.

Known as the Adult Literacy and Life (ALL) Skills Survey, the exercise is being led by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Statistics Canada, and is expected to be completed at the end of July. "The Literacy and Life Skills survey is an international endeavour and Bermuda is proud to be part of it," the Premier said.

Besides Bermuda this year's ALL survey will be conducted in Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, Costa Rica, Italy, Mexico, Norway, South Korea, Switzerland, Holland and the United States.

Policymakers plan to use the benchmark data in their decision making and for comparative analysis with other countries.

"Results from previous International Adult Literacy Surveys conducted in 1994, 1996 and 1998 dispelled the common belief that literacy is synonymous with educational attainment," the Premier continued.

"Rather the data indicated that literacy skills, like muscles, are maintained and strengthened through regular use."

She said that various agencies, and the corporate community, have long been concerned about low literacy levels of Bermuda's adult population.

"There is also the perception that the high levels of literacy, once achieved, in Bermuda by adults with only a primary education, have fallen disastrously over the years. This is most evident in the increasing number of persons who are unable to complete job application forms."

There were also people who "do not understand printed information well enough to use it, or, who, cannot read a bus or ferry schedule, follow the instructions on prescription labels, develop a household budget or use a computer," she continued.

"These literacy and life-skills are essential in order for adults to perform successfully in today's society. The importance of this survey is also highlighted by the fact that studies have shown that countries with higher levels of skills adjust more effectively to the challenges and opportunities created by globalisation."

Participation of the 4,500 selected households is required by law.

In 2000 Bermuda made a commitment, along with over 180 countries at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, to improve adult literacy by 50 percent by 2015.