The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey from 2006, and revised in 2008, reveals that around half of the state's population aged between 15 and 74 do not have the reading and writing skills needed to cope with the demands of everyday life and work.

This means that 49 per cent of adults, or about 174,000 people, do not have the basic skills required to understand and use information from newspapers, magazines, books and brochures.

The survey also found that there had been no improvement in literacy rates since they were last measured in 1996.

It showed Tasmania ranked lower in all categories of literacy understanding of prose, documents, numeracy, problem-solving and health compared to the rest of the country.

The ACT ranked the highest in all the categories, followed by Western Australia and South Australia.

Factors determined as impacting on the survey results included Tasmania's ageing population, lower school retention rates and post-school qualifications. Interstate migration may have also played a part.

In regards to the state's ageing population, it is thought that once limited educational and work opportunities played a significant part and was particularly evident in older females in the 65 to 74 age group.

The survey showed those living in regional areas had a lower literacy rate again, compared to those living in larger towns.

It also found that literacy levels did increase as the level of education attainment increased.

There were significant increases in all category levels for those who had completed year 12 or equivalent, compared to those who only finished year 10 or below.

There was also notable evidence to show that those who had sufficient literacy skills were more likely to be employed and earn more.

In an attempt to address the state's low literacy levels, in 2010 then premier and education minister David Bartlett launched the Adult Literacy Action Plan.

The $11 million four-year plan was aimed at improving the literacy skills of all Tasmanians to better engage in the community, learning and employment.

Education Minister Nick McKim said the plan was well in progress.

It included the implementation of a number of initiatives such as rolling out literacy co-ordinators and volunteers around the state, including in the prison system, allocating funding for the plan, establishing an online portal with tools and encouraging government service providers to use plain English.

``Early indicators of skills development and learning outcomes are positive with 812 Tasmanians receiving one-to-one literacy support from 1 July 2011 to 31 March 2012,'' Mr McKim said.

He said Skills Tasmania had also invested $1.4 million into the Employer Pledge Program to increase core skill levels, build a culture of learning and make it easier for employees to access literacy support.

An Adult Literacy Coalition of Interest had also been established, while more was also being done in schools to improve literacy and retention rates, he said.