In 2023, 67.97 percent of people aged 15 years and above in Africa were able to read and write a simple statement and understand it. Regionally, Southern Africa presented the highest literacy rate, at around 80 percent. North and East Africa had similar shares of literate people, at over 71 percent. In contrast, 67.5 percent and 54 percent of the adult population in Central and West Africa could read and write.

Between 2018 and 2022, Seychelles was the country with the highest adult literacy rate in Africa, at around 96 percent. São Tomé and Príncipe and Namibia followed with a literacy rate of approximately 94 percent and 92 percent, respectively. The average rate on the continent stood at roughly 67 percent. Moreover, Southern Africa had the highest literacy levels among African regions.

In 2023, the rate of adult literacy as share of the country's population 15 years and above in Sub-Saharan Africa remained nearly unchanged at around 68.2 percent. Still, the rate of adult literacy reached its highest value in the observed period in 2023. The adult literacy rate refers to the share of individuals aged 15 years and older who can read and write as well as understand simple expressions about their daily lives.

As of 2021, South Africa's total literacy rate was around 90 percent, which means 90 percent of all South Africans could read and write. There is literally no definitionThe literacy rate measures the percentage of people aged 15 and above who can read and write. There is no common definition for what counts as being literate; individual countries use individual assessments and standards to define it. Despite this, the literacy rate is an important indicator of the standard of education and thus the standard of living in a country. Sub-standard Sub-SaharaAlthough its educational system does not have the best reputation, South Africa’s literacy rate is well above average among their geographical peers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Illiteracy is still a significant global problem, and Sub-Saharan Africa is not among the leading regions when it comes to literacy and education. In 2011, 32 million children of primary school age did not go to school in that region, but projections see enrollment figures increasing in the future – if true, this could not only improve the region’s literacy rates, but also its standard of living and human progress in general.

This dataset provides values for LITERACY RATE ADULT TOTAL PERCENT OF PEOPLE AGES 15 AND ABOVE WB DATA.HTML reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

In 2021, 78.6 percent of the people aged 15 to 24 years in Africa were able to read and write a simple statement with understanding. Regionally, North Africa presented the highest youth literacy rate, at nearly 90 percent. Southern Africa followed closely, with 88 percent of young people literate. In contrast, 68 percent of the youth population in West Africa could read and write.

Graph and download economic data for Literacy Rate, Adult Total: All Income Levels for Sub-Saharan Africa (SEADTLITRZSSSF) from 1985 to 2023 about Sub-Saharan Africa, literacy, adult, income, and rate.

In 2020, 65.9 percent of people aged 15 years and above in Sub-Saharan Africa were able to read and write a simple statement. The adult literacy rate varied, however, according to gender. While 72.5 percent of males were literate, the share among females was measured at 59.4 percent. Overall, the literate population has been slowly growing in the region, with the prevalence of a wide gender gap.

South Africa ZA: Literacy Rate: Adult Male: % of Males Aged 15 and Above data was reported at 95.397 % in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 95.287 % for 2014. South Africa ZA: Literacy Rate: Adult Male: % of Males Aged 15 and Above data is updated yearly, averaging 94.144 % from Dec 1980 (Median) to 2015, with 9 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 95.397 % in 2015 and a record low of 77.526 % in 1980. South Africa ZA: Literacy Rate: Adult Male: % of Males Aged 15 and Above data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s South Africa – Table ZA.World Bank.WDI: Education Statistics. Adult literacy rate is the percentage of people ages 15 and above who can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement about their everyday life.; ; UNESCO Institute for Statistics; Weighted average; Each economy is classified based on the classification of World Bank Group's fiscal year 2018 (July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018).

Adult literacy rate is the percentage of people ages 15 and above who can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement about their everyday life.

The literacy rate among females in Cabo Verde reached 82 percent. Cabo Verde represented the West African country in which the literacy rate among women aged 15 years and over was the highest. On the contrary, the literacy rate in Chad equaled to 14 percent of female adults, the lowest figure in West Africa.

Central African Republic CF: Literacy Rate: Youth Female: % of Females Aged 15-24 data was reported at 29.110 % in 2020. This records a decrease from the previous number of 36.677 % for 2019. Central African Republic CF: Literacy Rate: Youth Female: % of Females Aged 15-24 data is updated yearly, averaging 29.055 % from Dec 1975 (Median) to 2020, with 8 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 49.000 % in 2000 and a record low of 20.000 % in 1975. Central African Republic CF: Literacy Rate: Youth Female: % of Females Aged 15-24 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Central African Republic – Table CF.World Bank.WDI: Social: Education Statistics. Youth literacy rate is the percentage of people ages 15-24 who can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement about their everyday life.;UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). UIS.Stat Bulk Data Download Service. Accessed September 30, 2024. https://apiportal.uis.unesco.org/bdds.;Weighted average;

Central African Republic literacy rate for 2020 was 37.49%, a 0.09% increase from 2018.

• Central African Republic literacy rate for 2018 was 37.40%, a 0.64% increase from 2010.
• Central African Republic literacy rate for 2010 was 36.75%, a 13.89% decline from 2000.
• Central African Republic literacy rate for 2000 was 50.65%, a 17.02% increase from 1988.

The youth literacy rate (people aged 15-24) in Sub-Saharan Africa saw no significant changes in 2023 in comparison to the previous year 2022 and remained at around 78.62 percent. Nevertheless, 2023 still represents a peak in the youth literacy rate in Sub-Saharan Africa with 78.62 percent. The youth literacy rate refers to the share of individuals between the ages of 15 and 24 and who can read and write as well as understand simple expressions about their daily lives.

The youth literacy rate (people aged 15-24) in South Africa saw no significant changes in 2021 in comparison to the previous year 2019 and remained at around 97 percent. In comparison to 2019, the youth literacy rate decreased not significantly by one percentage points (-1.02 percent). The youth literacy rate refers to the share of individuals between the ages of 15 and 24 and who can read and write as well as understand simple expressions about their daily lives.Find more statistics on other topics about South Africa with key insights such as gross tertiary enrollment ratio, Gender Parity Index (GPI) in youth literacy, and number of children out of school.

In the past five decades, the global literacy rate among adults has grown from 67 percent in 1976 to 87.36 percent in 2023. In 1976, males had a literacy rate of 76 percent, compared to a rate of 58 percent among females. This difference of over 17 percent in 1976 has fallen to just seven percent in 2020. Although gaps in literacy rates have fallen across all regions in recent decades, significant disparities remain across much of South Asia and Africa, while the difference is below one percent in Europe and the Americas. Reasons for these differences are rooted in economic and cultural differences across the globe. In poorer societies, families with limited means are often more likely to invest in their sons' education, while their daughters take up a more domestic role. Varieties do exist on national levels, however, and female literacy levels can sometimes exceed the male rate even in impoverished nations, such as Lesotho (where the difference was over 17 percent in 2014); nonetheless, these are exceptions to the norm.

Analysis unit

School, Classroom, Person

Universe

The survey covered all the public schools and government aided/supported schools.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The initial sample was made of all the 276 public schools and government aided/supported schools in regions 2, 3, 4, and 6.

The schools were clustered in groups of 2 or 3 schools on the basis of proximity for the randomization. This was done mainly to limit contamination while allowing useful exchange/cooperation between/among close schools. The randomization was further stratified by the size of the schools and their hardship 1 status. The following procedures were observed at the school level: * Head teacher questionnaire - Responded by the head teacher of the school - The deputy head teacher can respond only if the head teacher is not present. - A senior teacher is allowed to respond in case either deputy or head teacher are not present.

• Selection of classes for the classroom visit
• The enumerator gets the list of all the classes and selects two classrooms other than the ones participating in the written test.
• 528 classes were visited, 175 are WSD; 180 are grant only; and 173 are control schools.

*Selection of students for the written test One grade 3 class and one grade 5 class were selected randomly in each school. In each of the classes, 20 students were selected randomly. The gender parity was observed throughout. In total 8959 students were tested and about a third were selected in each treatment group.

*Selection of students for the pupils' questionnaire - 10 students (5 from grade 3 and 5 from grade 5) are randomly selected among the 40 who took the written test to respond to the questionnaire. - In total 2696 students were interviewed of which, 879 are WSD; 920 are grant only; and 897 are from the control schools.

Sampling deviation

Two regions were excluded: *Region 1 was excluded on the basis that it was too urban compare to the others. *Region 5 was excluded because of its prior exposition to a variant of the WSD.

Of the 276 schools, 3 schools were excluded from the samples because they were new schools and had only grade 1 and 2 or were close during the time of the survey.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

i) Head Teacher Questionnaire

The head teacher questionnaire is designed to collect broad characteristics of the schools as a whole. The main sections of this questionnaire include the examination of the school facilities (main buildings, sanitary, water provision etc), enrollment and staffs, school management (leadership, involvement of the local community, records keeping etc.). The main respondent to this questionnaire is the head teacher. However, in the event of his absence, the deputy head teacher or a senior teacher answers the questions.

ii) Classroom Visits

The classroom observation is intended to collect valuable information about the classroom activities and teaching practices. In each of the two classrooms randomly selected per school, the enumerator seats in the back of the class for 15 to 20 minutes and takes note of the teaching activities such as the students participation, teacher control over the class, etc. At the end of the observation, the teacher is asked a few questions about the school and his or her teaching such as lesson plans and lesson notes.

iii) Written Numeracy and Literacy Test

The written numeracy and literacy test is made by experts in the field of testing to assess the overall performance of the students in classes 3 and 5. The test has 4 sections: - The math section with 32 basic arithmetic questions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) -A word match section with 13 questions where students are given a word (20 questions in total) and they are to identify that word among a list of 4 words - A vocabulary section where student are given a sentence with an underlined word and they are to identify the synonym of the underlined word among a list of 4 word - A missing word section (11 questions) where a word is removed from a sentence and the students are to find the correct word that fits the blank among a list of 4 words.

iv) Pupils' Questionnaire & Oral Literacy Test

The pupils' questionnaire is designed to collect some background information about the students and to give then an oral literacy test. This questionnaire collects information about the students' socio-demographic information, performance and progress, and welfare. In addition, the student are given an oral literacy test that has the following components: - Letter name knowledge: The student are given a panel of 100 letters and are asked to read as many as they could in 60 seconds. - Reading: The students are to read a small passage of 60 words and then they are asked a few questions about the content of the passage. - Listening and comprehension: Here the enumerator reads a small passage aloud and then asks a few questions about the passage to the students.

All questionnaires are provided as external resources.

Abstract

The Southern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) is a consortium of Ministries of Education and Culture located in the Southern Africa subregion. This consortium works in close partnership with the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP). SACMEQ’s main aim is to undertake co-operative educational policy research in order to generate information that can be used by decision-makers to plan the quality of education. SACMEQ’s programme of educational policy research has four features which have optimized its contributions to the field of educational planning: (1) it provides research-based policy advice concerning high-priority educational quality issues that have been identified by key decision-makers in Southern Africa, (2) it functions as a co-operative venture based on a strong network of Ministries of Education and Culture, (3) it combines research and training components that are linked with institutional capacity building, and its future directions are defined by participating ministries. In each participating country, a National Research Co-ordinator is responsible for implementing SACMEQ’s projects.

The SACMEQ I Project commenced in 1995 and was completed in 1999. The SACMEQ I main data collection was implemented in seven SACMEQ Ministries of Education (Kenya, Mauritius, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, Zanzibar, and Zimbabwe). The study provided "agendas for government action" concerning: educational inputs to schools, benchmark standards for educational provision, equity in the allocation of educational resources, and the reading literacy performance of Grade 6 learners. The data collection for this project included information gathered from around 20,000 learners; 3,000 teachers; and 1,000 school principals.

This co-operative sub-regional educational research project collected data in order to guide decisionmaking in these countries with respect to questions around high priority policy issues. These included: • What are the baseline data for selected inputs to primary schools? • How do the conditions of primary schooling compare with the Ministry of Education and Culture’s own bench-mark standards? • Have educational inputs to schools been allocated in an equitable fashion? • What is the basic literacy level among pupils in upper primary school? • Which educational inputs to primary schools have most impact on pupil reading achievement at the upper primary level?

In 1995 there were five fully active members of SACMEQ: Mauritius, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania (Zanzibar), and Zimbabwe. These Ministries of Education and Culture participated in all phases of SACMEQ’s establishment and its initial educational policy research project. There are also four partially active members of SACMEQ: Kenya, Tanzania (Mainland), Malawi, and Swaziland. These Ministries of Education and Culture have made contributions to the preparation of the Project Plan for SACMEQ’s initial educational policy research project. Three other countries (Botswana, Lesotho, and South Africa) had observer status due to their involvement in SACMEQ related training workshops or their participation in some elements of the preparation of the first proposal for launching SACMEQ.

Geographic coverage

National Coverage

Analysis unit

• Pupils
• Schools
• Teachers

Universe

The target population for SACMEQ's Initial Project was defined as "all pupils at the Grade 6 level in 1995 who were attending registered government or non-government schools". Grade 6 was chosen because it was the grade level where the basics of reading literacy were expected to have been acquired.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

A stratified two-stage sample design was used to select around 150 schools in each country. Pupils were then selected within these schools by drawing simple random samples. A more detailed explanation of the sampling process is available under the 'Sampling' section of the report provided as external resources.

All sample designs applied in SACMEQ'S initial project were selected so as to meet the standards set down by the International Association for the Evaluation of Education Achievement (Ross, 1991). These standards require sample estimates of important pupil population characteristics to be (a) adjusted by weighing procedures designed to remove the potential for bias that may arise from different probabilities of selection, and (b) have sampling errors for the main criterion variables that are of the same magnitude or smaller than a simple random sample of 400 pupils (thereby providing 95 percent confidence limits for sample estimates of population percentages of plus or minus 5 percentage points, and 95 percent confidence limits for sample estimates of population means of plus or minus one tenth of a pupil standard deviation unit).

The desired target population in Zambia was 'all pupils at the Grade 6 level in the eleventh month of the school year, 1995, who were attending registered government and grant-aided schools in the country'. The number of schools and pupils in the desired, excluded, and defined population have been presented in Table 2.2 of the Sample Report provided as external resources. From the defined target population a probability sample of schools (with probability proportional to the Grade 6 enrolment in each school) was drawn. This resulted in a planned national sample of 165 schools and 3,300 pupils. This sample design was designed to yield an equivalent sample size' (Ross and Wilson, 1994) of 400 pupils - based on an estimated intra-class correlation (rho) for pupil reading test scores of around 0.30. In fact, after the rho was calculated for the reading scores, it was found to be 0.3 1 - which was about the same as had been expected At the first stage of sampling, schools were selected with a probability proportional to the number of pupils who were members of the defined target population. To achieve this selection a 'random start - constant interval' procedure was applied (Ross, 1987). In several strata there were some schools with numbers of pupils in the defined target population that exceeded the size of the 'constant interval', and therefore each of these schools was randomly broken into smaller 'pseudo schools' before the commencement of the sampling. At the second stage of sampling, a simple random sample of 20 pupils was selected within each selected school. Sampling weights were used to adjust for the disproportionate allocation of the sample across districts and also to account for the small loss of student data due to absenteeism on the day of the data collection.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The data collection for SACMEQ's Initial Project took place in October 1995 and involved the administration of questionnaires to pupils, teachers, and school heads. The pupil questionnaire contained questions about the pupils' home backgrounds and their school life; the teacher questionnaire asked about classrooms, teaching practices, working conditions, and teacher housing; and the school head questionnaire collected information about teachers, enrolments, buildings, facilities, and management. A reading literacy test was also given to the pupils. The test was based on items that were selected after a trial-testing programme had been completed.

The SACMEQ Data Collection Instruments include the following documents: - SACMEQ Questionnaires - which are administered to pupils, teachers, and school heads. - SACMEQ Tests - which are administered to pupils and teachers (covering reading mathematics, and HIV-AIDS knowledge). - Other SACMEQ Data Collection Instruments - such as take-home pupil questionnaires, school context proformas, and within-school project management documents.

Cleaning operations

All of the team leaders for the data collectors returned the instruments to the Ministry Headquarters (for the attention of the NRC), during the second week after the test administration. Once the instruments were returned to the Headquarters, three data entry staff within the Statistical Section of the Ministry entered the data, using the Data Entry Manager (DEM) a software programme developed at the IIEP (Schleicher, 1995). This software was adapted specifically for the entry of SACMEQ data. The data entry took six weeks and the data were sent on diskette to IIEP in March, 1996. It must be mentioned that at the time of data entry, the earlier version of the DEM structure files was used, and this caused major problems in cleaning the data at a later stage and reconstituting the structure of the files as they were meant to be.

Response rate

The planned sample was designed to contain 165 schools allocated across provinces, as shown in the first column of figures in Table 2.3 of the Survey Report provided as external resources. The achieved sample of schools was 157. The response rates for the sample have been recorded in Table 2.3. The percentage response for schools was 95.2 percent and that of pupils was 77.5 percent. The non-responding pupils were those who were absent on the day of testing. By province, this absenteeism varied from 2 to 12 percent.

Sampling error estimates

In the survey report provided as external resources, standard errors were provided for all important variables. The calculation of these errors acknowledged that the sample was not a simple random sample - but rather a complex two-stage cluster sample that included weighting adjustments to compensate for variations in selection probabilities. The errors were

In 2020, 76.7 percent of young people in Sub-Saharan Africa were able to read and write a simple sentence with understanding. The youth literacy rate was higher among men (79 percent) than women (74 percent). However, the gender gap has been decreasing. In 2000, 72.2 percent of young men were literate in the region, against 60.4 percent of women.

Biodiversity is being lost at unprecedented rates. Limited conservation resources must be prioritized strategically to maximize impact. Here we introduce novel methods to assess a small-scale conservation education program in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Lola ya Bonobo is the world’s only sanctuary for one of humans’ two closest living relatives, bonobos, orphaned by the illegal trade in bushmeat and exotic pets. The sanctuary is situated on the edge of the country’s capital, Kinshasa, its most densely populated region and a hub for the illegal wildlife trade that is imperiling bonobos and other endangered species. Lola ya Bonobo implements an education program specifically designed to combat this trade. Previous evaluation demonstrated the program’s efficacy in transmitting conservation knowledge to children. In Study 1, we use novel implicit tests to measure conservation attitudes before and after an educational visit and document a significant increase in children’s pro-conservation attitudes following direct exposure to bonobos and the education program. In Study 2, we show that adults exhibit high levels of conservation knowledge even before visiting the sanctuary, likely due to the sanctuary’s longstanding education efforts in Kinshasa. In Study 3, we explored adults’ empathetic attitudes toward bonobos before and after the sanctuary tour. Our results support the conservation education hypothesis that conservation education has improved relevant knowledge and attitudes in Kinshasa. Crucially, the present study validates new methods for implicitly assessing attitudes about environmental and social issues. These methods overcome typical biases in survey sampling and can be employed in diverse populations, including those with low literacy rates.