A simple dataset for states in the USA, including Washington DC, showing the average literacy rates along with population estimates for 2017. The national average for literacy is 264.

The USAFacts dataset contains the average literacy scores for the years 2012-2017, therefore I decided to use the estimate for the 2017 population from the Census data. I believe this is a decent snapshot in time for comparing literacy to population, looking for any correlations.

Original Sources 1. USAFacts How does literacy vary by state and county? 2. US Census Bureau: State Population Totals and Components of Change: 2010-2019

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 November of 2025.

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 November of 2025.

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.

Historical dataset showing U.S. literacy rate by year from N/A to N/A.

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 November 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 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 November of 2025.

This dataset includes Population and OVERALL LITERACY rate data about the US district wise and state wise.

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.

The indirect estimates provided in this data were created using a sophisticated statistical method generally referred to as small area estimation (SAE). 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. For technical details on the SAE approach applied to PIAAC, see section 5 of the State and County Estimation Methodology Report.

The U.S. state 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. state 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.All information contained in this file is in the public domain. Data users are advised to review NCES program documentation and feature class metadata to understand the limitations and appropriate use of these data.

A survey conducted in the United States in August 2023 found that digital literacy among U.S. adults varied depending on the age group. Younger generations, aged 18 to 29, showed a much higher awareness of digital topics, such as online privacy, and an understanding of generative AI. However, there was a notable gap between them and individuals 65 and older. For example, only 26 percent of respondents older than 65 years could identify an example of two-factor authentication, compared to 68 percent of younger respondents.

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 December of 2025.

National Assessment of Adult Literacy, 2003 (NAAL:2003), is a study that is part of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy program. NAAL:2003 (https://nces.ed.gov/naal/) is a cross-sectional assessment that collected information about English literacy among American adults age 16 and older. The study was conducted using direct assessment from 19,000 adults 16 or older, in their homes and some in prisons from the 50 states and District of Columbia. Households and prison inmates were sampled in 2003. The weighted response rate was 62.1 percent for households and 88.3 percent for prison inmates. Key statistics produced from NAAL:2003 include reading skills, general literacy, relationships, demographics, and background characteristics.

In 2024, 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 21.77 percent. The adult illiteracy rate is defined as the percentage of the population aged 15 and older who cannot read or write. Even though illiteracy continues to persist around the world, illiteracy levels have been reduced significantly over the past decades.

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.

Comprehensive dataset containing 956 verified Literacy program businesses in United States with complete contact information, ratings, reviews, and location data.

Context

In this problem, we will be examining the "state" dataset, which has data from the 1970s on all fifty US states. For each state, the dataset includes the population, per capita income, illiteracy rate, murder rate, high school graduation rate, average number of frost days, area, latitude and longitude, division the state belongs to, region the state belongs to, and two-letter abbreviation.

Content

This dataset has 50 observations (one for each US state) and the following 15 variables:

Population - the population estimate of the state in 1975 Income - per capita income in 1974 Illiteracy - illiteracy rates in 1970, as a percent of the population Life.Exp - the life expectancy in years of residents of the state in 1970 Murder - the murder and non-negligent manslaughter rate per 100,000 population in 1976 HS.Grad - percent of high-school graduates in 1970 Frost - the mean number of days with minimum temperature below freezing from 1931–1960 in the capital or a large city of the state Area - the land area (in square miles) of the state state.abb - a 2-letter abreviation for each state state.area - the area of each state, in square miles x - the longitude of the center of the state y - the latitude of the center of the state state.division - the division each state belongs to (New England, Middle Atlantic, South Atlantic, East South Central, West South Central, East North Central, West North Central, Mountain, or Pacific) state.name - the full names of each state state.region - the region each state belong to (Northeast, South, North Central, or West)

Acknowledgements

MITx ANALYTIX

United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Pacific Island Small States was 90.93676 % of People Ages 15 and Above in January of 2020, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Pacific Island Small States reached a record high of 91.29381 in January of 2018 and a record low of 86.96678 in January of 1990. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Literacy Rate, Adult Total for Pacific Island Small States - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on December of 2025.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a continuing survey of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of young Americans. Each year during the period 1970-1980, 75,000 to 100,000 persons were assessed in the following learning areas: reading, reading/literature, mathematics, science, and citizenship/social studies. Data are presented for 9-year-olds, 13-year-olds, and 17-year-olds for the academic years 1970-1971, 1972-1973 to 1977-1978, and 1979-1980, in the form of "Booklet" files. At the school level, background variables include the region, census division, type and size of community, occupation mix of attendance area, grade range, racial composition, total enrollment, and Title I eligibility. At the respondent level, items cover age, sex, race, parents' education, and reading materials in the home. From the school year 1972-1973 on, regional migration variables are included for the older age groups. From 1975-1976 on, 17-year-olds were asked a number of additional background questions, including their homework and TV viewing habits, languages spoken in the home, racial/ethnic heritage, and household possessions.

Context

There are more than 26.8 million people or 2.2% of the population currently who have disabilities in India (Census 2011) which itself is said to be a very conservative estimate. There is a lot of stigma associated with the disabled community and a very high inequality in terms of social as well as monetary status between the disabled community and the entire population.

Content

The data in the csv file gives us the statewise values of the following:

1.State 2.number_disabled : It gives the total number of people in the region that are disabled. 3.total_population: It gives the total number of people in the region. 4.percent_disabled: It gives the total percentage of the people disabled in the given region. 5.literacy_rate_disabled : It represents the literacy rate of the disabled community in the region. 6.literacy_rate_general : It shows the total literacy rate of the population in the state. 7.workforce_rate_disabled : It tells us the total percent of all the disabled people that are part of the workforce in the given region.(inclusive all ages). 8.workforce_rate_general : It shows the total percent of all the people that are part of the workforce in the given region(inclusive of all ages).