Worldreader is on a mission to bring digital books to every child and her family, so that they can improve their lives. The organization builds digital platforms and mobile connectivity in the developing world to make books available to the people who need them the most. Using e-readers, mobile phones and other digital technology, they have reached readers in 27 countries, providing them with over 6,000 book titles in 41 languages. They are currently working with over 140 publishers to acquire and digitize the most compelling and relevant content for their readers; 70% of their library comes from African and Indian publishers.

Since 2010, over 200,000 people per month have read more than 1.7 million books. Students in their e-reader programs improved 94% in mother tongue oral reading fluency after just 5 months, and girls in their program improved twice as fast in oral reading fluency as girls in neighboring schools, closing an existing gender gap. Reading on Worldreader Mobile is particularly popular with women, who spend on average 207 minutes reading per month, compared to 32 minutes for men (UNESCO). 

The increasing ubiquity and diminishing costs of digital technology enable them to work in an efficient and economical way. E-readers that cost over $300 when we started now cost less than $50, and digital books cost as little as pennies. On average it costs just $16 to put an entire library of hundreds of books into the hands of a new reader and to get them reading.

Through their efforts and their partnerships with device manufacturers, mobile operators, teachers, governments, and the communities where they work, Worldreader is working towards a world in which every child and her family have the books they need to improve their lives, the practice of reading is commonplace, and where illiteracy is a thing of the past.

Worldreader is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Barcelona, London and Accra.