Abstract
In spite of the considerable progress towards reducing illiteracy rates,
many countries, including developed ones, have encountered difficulty
achieving further reduction in these rates. This is worrying because
illiteracy has been related to numerous health, social, and economic
problems. Here, we show that the spatial patterns of illiteracy in urban
systems have several features analogous to the spread of diseases such
as dengue and obesity. Our results reveal that illiteracy rates are
spatially long-range correlated, displaying non-trivial clustering
structures characterized by percolation-like transitions and fractality.
These patterns can be described in the context of percolation theory of
long-range correlated systems at criticality. Together, these results
provide evidence that the illiteracy incidence can be related to a
transmissible process, in which the lack of access to minimal education
propagates in a population in a similar fashion to endemic diseases. (C)
2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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