In 2020, the adult literacy rate among the population above 15 years of age in Mongolia amounted to approximately 99.2 percent, more than in any other country in the Asia-Pacific region. Comparatively, the adult literacy rate in Afghanistan amounted to approximately 37.3 percent of the population aged 15 years and above in 2021.

Adult Literacy Rate for Male, Female, and Total Population by country for most recent year available. Year of data collection for each country is listed when known. Adult literacy rates are defined as the percentage of people ages 15 and above who can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement about their everyday life. Data Sources: United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics, via World Bank DataBank; CIA World Factbook; Country shapes from Natural Earth 50M scale data.

World literacy rate for 2023 was 87.36%, a 0.2% increase from 2022.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>World literacy rate for 2022 was <strong>87.16%</strong>, a <strong>0.23% increase</strong> from 2021.</li>
<li>World literacy rate for 2021 was <strong>86.93%</strong>, a <strong>0.18% increase</strong> from 2020.</li>
<li>World literacy rate for 2020 was <strong>86.75%</strong>, a <strong>0.2% increase</strong> from 2019.</li>
</ul>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 average for 2021 based on 58 countries was 94.32 percent. The highest value was in Romania: 100 percent and the lowest value was in Burkina Faso: 66.65 percent. The indicator is available from 1970 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Global Adult Literacy Rate by Country, 2023 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

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.

The average for 2021 based on 13 countries was 86.52 percent. The highest value was in Uzbekistan: 100 percent and the lowest value was in Afghanistan: 37 percent. The indicator is available from 1970 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

The average for 2021 based on 3 countries was 94.81 percent. The highest value was in Costa Rica: 98.04 percent and the lowest value was in Puerto Rico: 92.4 percent. The indicator is available from 1970 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Graph and download economic data for Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Low Income Countries (SEADTLITRZSLIC) from 1988 to 2023 about literacy, adult, income, and rate.

Global Literacy Rate Among Female Youth by Country, 2023 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

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 2020, China had a youth literacy rate of about 99.8 percent. In contrast, Afghanistan's youth literacy rate stood at 55.9 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 14.5 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.

Global Youth Literacy Rate by Country, 2023 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

Norway literacy rate for was 0.00%, a 0% increase from .

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>Norway literacy rate for was <strong>0.00%</strong>, a <strong>0% increase</strong> from .</li>
<li>Norway literacy rate for was <strong>0.00%</strong>, a <strong>0% increase</strong> from .</li>
<li>Norway literacy rate for was <strong>0.00%</strong>, a <strong>0% increase</strong> from .</li>
</ul>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.

China literacy rate for 2020 was 96.74%, a 1.62% increase from 2010.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>China literacy rate for 2010 was <strong>95.12%</strong>, a <strong>4.2% increase</strong> from 2000.</li>
<li>China literacy rate for 2000 was <strong>90.92%</strong>, a <strong>13.14% increase</strong> from 1990.</li>
<li>China literacy rate for 1990 was <strong>77.79%</strong>, a <strong>12.28% increase</strong> from 1982.</li>
</ul>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.

literacy rate for 2022 was 67.72%, a 0.12% increase from 2021.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li> literacy rate for 2021 was <strong>67.59%</strong>, a <strong>0.04% increase</strong> from 2020.</li>
<li> literacy rate for 2020 was <strong>67.55%</strong>, a <strong>0.14% increase</strong> from 2019.</li>
<li> literacy rate for 2019 was <strong>67.41%</strong>, a <strong>0.73% increase</strong> from 2018.</li>
</ul>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.

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.

There is a gender gap in the global literacy rate. Although literacy rates have generally increased worldwide for both men and women, men are on average more literate than women. As of 2023, about 90.6 percent of men and a little less than 84.1 percent of women in the world were literate. Adult literacy rate is defined as the percentage of people aged 15 years and above who can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement about their everyday life. Youth literacy rate Not only does the literacy gender gap concern adults, it also exists among the world’s younger generations aged 15 to 24. Despite an overall increase in literacy, young men are still more literate than young women. In fact, the global youth literacy rate as gender parity index was 0.98 as of 2023, indicating that young women are not yet as literate as young men. Gender pay gap Gender gaps occur in many different spheres of global society. One such issue concerns salary gender gaps in the professional life. Regarding the controlled gender pay gap, which measures the median salary for men and women with the same job and qualifications, women still earned less than men as of 2024. The difference was even bigger when measuring the median salary for all men and women. However, not everyone worries about gender pay gaps. According to a survey from 2021, 54 percent of the female respondents deemed the gender pay gap a real problem, compared to 45 percent of the male respondents.

The average for 2021 based on 13 countries was 94.75 percent. The highest value was in Singapore: 100 percent and the lowest value was in Afghanistan: 56 percent. The indicator is available from 1970 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

In 2020, the highest percentage of female literacy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region was in Jordan at about 97.8 percent of the females. Within the region, Syria, Libya and Iraq have been suffering from conflict and humanitarian crises.