Building land in the middle of nowhere with the house prices?!

It is a minority in schools, but a consistently occurring one in all metropolitan areas. It is a constant phenomenon, not an exception.

But that’s exactly why they are called "metropolitan areas." Everything conglomerates there, including the outliers upwards or downwards. Although the downward ones are much more noticeable. When I started school over 30 years ago, we already had more than 20 kids per class (though not 30), in a small village. And in our classes there were also 2-3 kids who couldn’t keep up academically, some repeating a year. In villages, it doesn’t come together like that. Back then, we knew individual houses/families that were looked down upon. In Berlin, you know whole neighborhoods in that regard. In schools in those districts, the dropout/illiteracy rates are naturally significantly higher. For that, there are probably other districts with correspondingly high educational levels, where below-average numbers of illiterates sit in the classes.

Anyone who wants statistics beyond gut feeling can try searching for the "IGLU" study. (Study on reading ability in 4th graders, last done in 2021)

"Accordingly, 25 percent of students in this field are considered low performing. They do not have the necessary reading skills for the transition to a secondary school. In the last survey in 2016, their share was still 19 percent."

Low performing does not necessarily mean "cannot read at all," but rather with difficulties.

The truth is, as always, somewhere between the extremes mentioned. I would also consider the idea that all students at the end of 4th grade have reading difficulties an extreme, and even in schools in socially disadvantaged areas, that is rather not the case. Unfortunately, however, the opposite (everyone can read) is also no longer the norm.

where below-average many illiterates then sit in the school classes.

If a G7 industrial nation at all "produces" "enough" illiterates for a statistic, I consider that alone an "adequate" disgrace ...

If a G7 industrial nation at all "produces" "enough" illiterates for a statistic, I consider that alone an "adequate" disgrace ...

I fully agree with that, of course. The conditions are catastrophic, there are also enough studies proving that literacy has been dramatically declining for years. I didn't want to defend our education system now, I rather wanted to say that I see little difference between city life and rural life. In city life, it just depends on WHERE in the city you live, in rural areas it is more dispersed.

P.S.: How can all children learn to read early if not all parents can?

Because it’s not their parents teaching them.. I am the daughter of an illiterate woman and already won a reading contest in 2nd grade. I would even argue that children who are not given everything on a silver platter are even a bit more ambitious because they want to change something for themselves.

Your optimism is all well and good ... but there are children for whom ambition doesn't help much either. Those who have to learn German only in the first grade, don't speak German in their private lives, and at home know only the TV and Playstation instead of books, simply have a much worse starting position by miles.