Of the Mussens whose literacy was recorded, 78.3% could both read and write, 2.2% could read but not write, and 19.6% could do neither. Men came out slightly ahead, 86% reading and writing against 71.4% of women. Bear in mind these figures include young children; the census itself only counted people aged nine and over when calculating illiteracy, on the grounds that it was unfair to label a child illiterate before they'd had a chance to learn.