If I understand Skritter's progress stats, I can see the total number of characters I've learnt (about 700) and then I have a stat for total number of 'words' (about 250)

So I'm guessing that single-character words aren't counted.
ie. if I learn 東 (East) 西 (West) and 東西 (things) then that would count as 2 characters and 1 word.

Just wondering if anyone knows a simple way to see the total number of words I know, regardless of characters (so, for instance, a way to count 東, 西 and 東西 as 3 words)

Also, on a related note, what do people consider to be the necessary number of words to learn to be able to start reading the easiest Chinese literature? I've heard the number 3000 from a few sources.

Word definitions plus single character definitions would give you a total of how many "words" you can read...

謝謝

Writing seems harder to calculate. I wouldn't say I know how to write single characters words that I've only encountered in multiple character words.

I know around 2000 words and have been attempting to read some simple chinese books. I'm sure 3000 would make things a lot easier.

Its normally 3000 characters that is quoted not 3000 words for native content (is this what you mean by simplest Chinese "literature"?). See http://chineselevel.com/words/stats/ . You could start looking at graded readers (or even better, chinesepod), but I wouldn't recommend native content as its more likely to confuse or depress than help

Can also drop your skritter lists into hskhsk.com to find out word totals.

I don't know if ricksh meant native content for Chinese children by the term "graded readers", but I think that is a great way to improve reading (and enjoy content) without getting too overwhelmed. Often children's material will also have the characters in pinyin or zhuyin, which make looking up the character easier and also help if your listening comprehension is better. You could also try manga.