Adult literacy
Share of people over 15 who can read and write a short statement about their life.
- measured by
- World Bank
- originally from
- UNESCO Institute for Statistics
- years covered
- 1975–2024
- subject
- Society
Higher is generally taken as better.
How this is measured
Measured by UNESCO, usually from a census or household survey, and usually self-reported — which tends to overstate it. Collected only every few years per country, so this series is sparse: the chart will show long flat runs and then a step, and the step is a new survey rather than a sudden change.
Ranked for 2024
27 countries and territories have a figure for 2024. This is the most recent year the series covers well; the viewer holds every year from 1975.
| # | Country | Region | Literacy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia | Eurasia | 99.7% |
| 2 | Uruguay | Americas | 98.9% |
| 3 | United Arab Emirates | Middle East & North Africa | 98.8% |
| 4 | Mongolia | Asia-Pacific | 98.6% |
| 5 | Palestine | Middle East & North Africa | 97.9% |
| 6 | Saudi Arabia | Middle East & North Africa | 97.9% |
| 7 | Bolivia | Americas | 96.7% |
| 8 | Panama | Americas | 96.2% |
| 9 | Mexico | Americas | 95.6% |
| 10 | Colombia | Americas | 95.3% |
| 11 | Paraguay | Americas | 94.9% |
| 12 | Brazil | Americas | 94.7% |
| 13 | Jordan | Middle East & North Africa | 94.4% |
| 14 | Dominican Republic | Americas | 94.0% |
| 15 | Peru | Americas | 93.7% |
| 16 | Ecuador | Americas | 93.5% |
| 17 | Sri Lanka | Asia-Pacific | 92.7% |
| 18 | South Africa | Sub-Saharan Africa | 91.2% |
| 19 | Lesotho | Sub-Saharan Africa | 90.5% |
| 20 | El Salvador | Americas | 89.8% |
| 21 | Honduras | Americas | 88.3% |
| 22 | Guatemala | Americas | 82.1% |
| 23 | India | Asia-Pacific | 78.2% |
| 24 | Uganda | Sub-Saharan Africa | 77.0% |
| 25 | Zambia | Sub-Saharan Africa | 71.8% |
| 26 | Nigeria | Sub-Saharan Africa | 70.4% |
| 27 | Mali | Sub-Saharan Africa | 35.6% |
Data by year
Show 49 yearly JSON rankings
Follow a year link to open the complete world ranking, including country names, values, positions, source and licence.
- 2024 JSON
- 2023 JSON
- 2022 JSON
- 2021 JSON
- 2020 JSON
- 2019 JSON
- 2018 JSON
- 2017 JSON
- 2016 JSON
- 2015 JSON
- 2014 JSON
- 2013 JSON
- 2012 JSON
- 2011 JSON
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- 1982 JSON
- 1981 JSON
- 1980 JSON
- 1979 JSON
- 1978 JSON
- 1976 JSON
- 1975 JSON
Source and licence
World Bank — World Development Indicators
CC BY 4.0. World Bank, World Development Indicators How every source was checked