In France, 12% of the population has serious writing difficulties, due to great difficulties in the fundamental areas of reading words, the comprehension of simple texts and handwriting. This rate varies greatly according to age, from 7% for 18-29 year-olds to 22% for 60-65 year-olds. With regard to arithmetic and listening comprehension, younger people achieve better results than their elders. These differences are due in large to the longer education that the younger generations have enjoyed, but they could also arise from the loss of these abilities during life, in particular due to a lack of practice.