A pilot project began in the Ernakulam region, an area of 3 million people that includes the city of Kochi. In late 1988, 50,000 volunteers fanned out around the district, tracking down 175,000 illiterates between the ages of 5 and 60, two-thirds of them women. Within a year, it was hoped, the illiterates would read Malayalam at 30 words a minute, copy a text at 7 words a minute, count and write from 1 to 100, and add and subtract three-digit numbers. On 4 February 1990, 13 months after the initial canvass, Indian Prime Minister V. P. Singh marked the start of World Literacy Year with a trip to Ernakulam, declaring it the country's first totally literate district. In 2001, Kerala's literacy rate was 91% almost as high as that of China (93%) and Thailand (93.9%).