The overall illiteracy rate has been in sharp decline in Latin America, falling from 27.3 percent in 1970 to 17.3 percent in 1985. However, the total number of illiterate people has remained practically stable over the same period. Overall literacy rates tend to increase with the rurality of the population, the proportion of women, the absence of schooling, and the school failure rate of school-age children. Members of cultures that have an oral tradition have difficulties using written codes. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the main national and regional efforts to combat illiteracy have taken place in the 1980s as part of the Major Project in Education. The project's goals, strategies, and procedures were defined in 1981. The project strives to eradicate Latin American illiteracy before the end of the century and to develop educational services for adults. The countries that have developed national literacy campaigns include Argentina, Bolivia, Columbia, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela. At its present rate, the project will be able to reduce the number of illiterate people in the region by only 6 million by the end of the century, leaving 37 million illiterate adults. The project has established the REDALF regional network for personnel training among sponsors and providers of adult education. (CML)