United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Other Small States was 86.25975 % of People Ages 15 and Above in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Other Small States reached a record high of 86.25975 in January of 2023 and a record low of 71.82288 in January of 1983. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Other Small States - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on July of 2025.

Among the states in India, Kerala had the highest literary rate with ** percent in 2011. Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and the capital territory of Delhi followed Kerala with above average literacy rates. Notably, all the leading states in the country had more literate males than females at the time of the census.

In 2020, China had a youth literacy rate of about **** percent. In contrast, Afghanistan's youth literacy rate stood at **** percent in 2021.Indicators for the literacy rateAn indicator which can be seen to affect the literacy rate is the governmental effort in investing in education. The amount of funds invested into the education sector is a factor which can determine a country’s state of education, as the amount of money being spent on education would have an impact on resources, learning environment, and teaching quality. Singapore’s student-teacher ratio in primary education is significantly lower than that of South Asian countries. For instance, Nepal had 20.3 students for every teacher in 2019. Meanwhile, Singaporean teachers only had around **** students on average as of 2020. Notably, South Asia, together with sub-Saharan Africa, had a much higher illiteracy rate compared to the East Asian and Pacific region in 2022. The importance of literacyThe literacy rate indicates the percentage of people within a population who can read and write. This enables them to identify, understand and interpret materials with various contexts. Ensuring literacy for all pupils is a part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for quality education. This in turn stimulates economic and societal growth for the future.

United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Lower Middle Income Countries was 77.63182 % of People Ages 15 and Above in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Lower Middle Income Countries reached a record high of 77.63182 in January of 2023 and a record low of 47.38413 in January of 1975. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Lower Middle Income Countries - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on July of 2025.

The statistic depicts the literacy rate in Mexico from 2008 to 2020. The literacy rate measures the percentage of people ages 15 and above who can read and write. In 2020, Mexico's literacy rate was around 95.25 percent. The source does not provide data for 2019.Education in MexicoThe literacy rate is commonly defined as the share of people in a country who are older than 15 years and are able to read and write. In Mexico, a state with more than 115 million inhabitants, the literacy rate is above 90 percent, making it significantly higher than the global average. More than 70 percent of Mexico’s population is older than 15 years, a figure than has been quite consistent over the last ten years. Mexico’s compulsory education comprises grades 1 to 9, with an optional secondary education up to grade 12. Literacy is considered basic education. The lowest literacy rates can be found in African countries, the highest in Europe. Additionally, the literacy rate is one of the factors that determines a country’s ranking on the Human Development Index of the United Nations, which ranks the overall well-being of a country’s population. Apart from literacy, it also includes factors such as per-capita income, health and life expectancy and others. Mexico is currently not among the countries with the highest Human Development Index value.

United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Least Developed Countries was 67.71457 % of People Ages 15 and Above in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Least Developed Countries reached a record high of 67.71457 in January of 2023 and a record low of 40.17880 in January of 1981. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Least Developed Countries - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on July of 2025.

Editor’s Choice

• The Healthcare IT market size is expected to be worth around USD 1728 Bn by 2032
• According to a report by UNESCO, countries in South and South-West Asia have the highest number of illiterate adults in the world, estimated at 388 million.
• Approximately 36% of adult Americans possess only basic or below basic health literacy skills.
• Only 12% of Americans are considered proficient in their health literacy skills.
• Health literacy levels in China increased from 6.48% of the population in 2008 to 23.15% in 2020.
• A recent study analyzing global health literacy research from 1995 to 2020 identified the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom as major contributors to the international collaboration network on health literacy.
• Mental health has been the most active research field in recent years in the context of health literacy.

United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for the Arab World was 76.15426 % of People Ages 15 and Above in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for the Arab World reached a record high of 76.15426 in January of 2023 and a record low of 44.90297 in January of 1977. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for the Arab World - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on July of 2025.

Analysis of ‘Govt Of India Literacy Rate’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://www.kaggle.com/doncorleone92/govt-of-india-literacy-rate on 13 February 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

Context

This is the official dataset released by the govt. of India based on the census 2001 and 2011 survey.

Content

The data is of 35 Indian states and union territories. The literacy rate is spread across the major parameters - Overall, Rural and Urban. All the data is percentage of the total population of that state.

Acknowledgements

Derived from the govt. of India's official site.

Inspiration

Understand the literacy rate in India and which states/UT's have the highest growth in terms of increased literacy rates.

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

Literacy Rate: Tamil Nadu data was reported at 80.100 % in 12-01-2011. This records an increase from the previous number of 73.450 % for 12-01-2001. Literacy Rate: Tamil Nadu data is updated decadal, averaging 58.525 % from Dec 1961 (Median) to 12-01-2011, with 6 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 80.100 % in 12-01-2011 and a record low of 36.390 % in 12-01-1961. Literacy Rate: Tamil Nadu data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. The data is categorized under India Premium Database’s Education Sector – Table IN.EDA001: Literacy Rate.

As of March 2020, around 4.46 million Mexicans over 15 years of age were unable to write or read, approximately 4.74 percent. Mexico State, the federal entity with the highest share of the population, also registered the highest number of literate people with over 12 million.

Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Low and Middle Income Countries was 85.17915 % of People Ages 15 and Above in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Low and Middle Income Countries reached a record high of 85.17915 in January of 2023 and a record low of 59.01323 in January of 1975. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Low and Middle Income Countries - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on June of 2025.

In 2023, the illiteracy rate among adults aged 15 years and older was almost 32 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa. In South Asia, the illiteracy rate was 25 percent. Adult illiteracy rate is defined as the percentage of the population aged 15 and older who can not read or write. Even though illiteracy continues to persist around the world, illiteracy levels have been reduced significantly over the past decades.

United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Upper Middle Income Countries was 95.61952 % of People Ages 15 and Above in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Upper Middle Income Countries reached a record high of 95.79682 in January of 2020 and a record low of 69.21488 in January of 1976. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Upper Middle Income Countries - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on June of 2025.

Historical chart and dataset showing Georgia literacy rate by year from 2002 to 2022.

United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Small States was 87.28028 % of People Ages 15 and Above in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Small States reached a record high of 87.28028 in January of 2023 and a record low of 76.87106 in January of 1986. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Small States - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on June of 2025.

The National Reporting System for Adult Education (NRS) is administered by the Division of Adult Education and Literacy in the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education at the U.S. Department of Education. Aggregated data, data from individual US states and territories, and narrative reports, all covering program years 2000-2022, were downloaded from https://nrs.ed.gov/ between 2025-02-06 and 2025-02-09. Aggregated reports were uploaded to Data Lumos as both regular files and a zipped folder; state data tables were only uploaded as a zipped folder, due to the high number of individual files. Total, there are 11,206 files and 628 folders in the entire dataset, due to the way it was structured on the original website.

The National Center for Education Statistics surveyed 12,330 U.S. adults ages 16 to 74 living in households from 2012 to 2017 for the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), an international study involving over 35 countries. Using small area estimation models (SAE), indirect estimates of literacy and numeracy proficiency have been produced for all U.S. states and counties. By using PIAAC survey data in conjunction with data from the American Community Survey, the Skills Map data provides reliable estimates of adult literacy and numeracy skills in all 50 states, all 3,141 counties, and the District of Columbia.

SAE is a model-dependent approach that produces indirect estimates for areas where survey data is inadequate for direct estimation. SAE models assume that counties with similar demographics would have similar estimates of skills. An estimate for a county then “borrows strength” across related small areas through auxiliary information to produce reliable indirect estimates for small areas. The models rely on covariates available at the small areas, and PIAAC survey data. In the absence of any other proficiency assessment data for individual states and counties, the estimates provide a general picture of proficiency for all states and counties. In addition to the indirect estimates, this website provides precision estimates and facilitates statistical comparisons among states and counties. For technical details on the SAE approach applied to PIAAC, see section 5 of the State and County Estimation Methodology Report.

The U.S. county indirect estimates reported in this data are not directly comparable with the direct estimates for PIAAC countries that are reported by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Specifically, the U.S. county indirect estimates (1) represent modeled estimates for adults ages 16-74 whereas the OECD’s direct estimates for participating countries represent estimates for adults ages 16-65, (2) include data for “literacy-related nonresponse” (i.e., adults whose English language skills were too low to participate in the study) whereas the OECD’s direct estimates for countries exclude these data, and (3) are based on three combined data collections (2012/2014/2017) whereas OECD’s direct estimates are based on a single data collection.

Please visit the Skills Map to learn more about this data.

The highest literacy rates in Nigeria were registered in the southern regions of the country. In the South West, 89 percent of males and 80.6 percent of females were literate as of 2018. Also, the south zones showed the lowest percentage differences between male and female literacy. Female literacy rate in Nigeria is among the highest in West Africa. The highest female literacy rates were registered in Cabo Verde and Ghana, while Nigeria ranked third.

United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Countries with Fragile and Conflict Affected Situations was 65.85258 % of People Ages 15 and Above in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Countries with Fragile and Conflict Affected Situations reached a record high of 65.91319 in January of 2022 and a record low of 52.84653 in January of 1983. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Countries with Fragile and Conflict Affected Situations - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on July of 2025.