In today economy, illiteracy is a barrier to increasing income. It prevents a mon-farm worker from getting a high paying job, and it prevents a farmer from getting access to information and knowledge that can boost his farm yields and income. Illiteracy, therefore, often goes hand-in-hand with poverty and uncertainty. To cope with this uncertainty, poor people naturally tend towards having many more children. In case a child or two or three should die growing up, there are still a few left to work the field, work jobs, carry on and take care of the parents. In essence, illiteracy contributes indirectly to population growth through the poverty and uncertainty it creates. In many cases, simply improving the health care system, guaranteeing free education or providing free food to children from poor families or a combination of these would reduce the uncertainty enough that family size would begin to shrink.