How To Increase Literacy In Victoria 3

Knowing how to increase Literacy in Victoria 3 is imperative to having an educated population who can read and write, but it's not immediately clear how to increase it. Victoria 3 lets you manage a nation during the Industrial Revolution, challenging you to adapt its government, economy, and people to the times, while staying competitive on the world stage. Your Literacy rate plays a huge role in pushing your nation forward, so take a look at how to increase Literacy in Victoria 3. 

• We also cover how to increase Legitimacy in Victoria 3, which allows your government to pass laws quicker. 

How To Increase Literacy In Victoria 3

In Victoria 3, your Literacy dictates what percentage of your total population can read and write, which is important for a few different reasons. Firstly, if your population isn't literate, they won't be able to take part in certain professions that require qualifications, which will stunt your workforce and stop you from developing more advanced goods over time. Literacy also directly affects your Innovation, which is a value that determines how long it takes to research technologies and receive technology spread. Essentially, if you have a low Literacy rate, your nation will suffer when it comes to progressing and developing further. 

The main thing that affects your Literacy rate is your nation's Education level, and increasing this will cause your population to become more literate over time. Education is an Institution, and each level you put into it will increase Education access for your population. To access this, select the 'Politics' icon on the left menu, and then click the 'Institutions' tab. On this screen, (pictured above) you will be able to see your Education level, and the direct effect that it has on your population. 

To gain the Education Institution so you can start putting points into it, you will first need to enact an Education System law. The first law, No School, will disable the Education Institution, but selecting Religious Schools, Private Schools, or Public Schools will enable it. Public Schools also increases Education access, which is vital for boosting Literacy. 

You will need to max out your Education Institution to level five if you want to reach 100% Literacy for your population, but you will have to take some specific steps to reach the fifth level. It's also worth noting that each level of Education costs Bureaucracy, so you will need a lot to max out Education. Firstly, you will need to unlock the following technologies from the Society Technology Tree:

• Rationalism
• Empiricism
• Dialectics
• Human Rights

The first three of these technologies allow you to put one level into the Education Institution and will get the ball rolling for your Literacy rate. Human Rights don't directly affect your Education, but it will allow you to change the laws for Children's Rights, which is the next step for boosting Literacy. 

Once you have three levels in the Education Institution, you will need to pass a specific law to gain access to the final two levels and max out Education. We have a guide on how to pass laws in Victoria 3 if you're not sure of this next step. Navigate to the 'Laws' tab on the Politics screen, and select the Children's Rights law group. Passing Restricted Child Labour will let you put one point into Education, while Compulsory Primary School will allow you to max out Education. 

Once the Education Institution is maxed out, your Literacy rate won't just jump up to 100% straight away, but as all children will now be literate, over time your Literacy rate will begin to climb. 

That's all for our explainer of how to increase Literacy in Victoria 3, and now you know how to create a fully literate country through the use of Institutions and laws. 

If you want to become one of the most powerful nations in the world, check out how to increase GDP in Victoria 3.