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.

The "World Literacy Rate by Country" dataset provides a detailed snapshot of literacy rates across different countries in the world. This dataset is organized into several key columns:

S.No: This column lists the serial number for each country, helping to keep the data organized and easy to reference. Country: This column names the countries included in the dataset, allowing for a clear understanding of which nation each literacy rate pertains to. Literacy rate in percentage: This column shows the literacy rate of each country, expressed as a percentage. This figure represents the proportion of the population that can read and write. Year: This column indicates the year in which the literacy rate was recorded, providing a temporal context for the data. By examining this dataset, you can gain insights into the educational progress and challenges faced by different countries in the world.

Historical dataset showing North America literacy rate by year from 2003 to 2022.

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.

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.

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

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

Historical dataset showing Central America literacy rate by year from N/A to N/A.

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 Latin America & Caribbean literacy rate by year from 1974 to 2023.

About this dataset

Context

The dataset tabulates the Reading population distribution across 18 age groups. It lists the population in each age group along with the percentage population relative of the total population for Reading. The dataset can be utilized to understand the population distribution of Reading by age. For example, using this dataset, we can identify the largest age group in Reading.

Key observations

The largest age group in Reading, OH was for the group of age 55-59 years with a population of 1,143 (10.86%), according to the 2021 American Community Survey. At the same time, the smallest age group in Reading, OH was the 80-84 years with a population of 140 (1.33%). Source: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2017-2021 5-Year Estimates.

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2017-2021 5-Year Estimates.

Age groups:

• Under 5 years
• 5 to 9 years
• 10 to 14 years
• 15 to 19 years
• 20 to 24 years
• 25 to 29 years
• 30 to 34 years
• 35 to 39 years
• 40 to 44 years
• 45 to 49 years
• 50 to 54 years
• 55 to 59 years
• 60 to 64 years
• 65 to 69 years
• 70 to 74 years
• 75 to 79 years
• 80 to 84 years
• 85 years and over

Variables / Data Columns

• Age Group: This column displays the age group in consideration
• Population: The population for the specific age group in the Reading is shown in this column.
• % of Total Population: This column displays the population of each age group as a proportion of Reading total population. Please note that the sum of all percentages may not equal one due to rounding of values.

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

Recommended for further research

This dataset is a part of the main dataset for Reading Population by Age. You can refer the same here

The Project Information Literacy (PIL) lifelong learning survey dataset was produced as part of a two-year federally funded study on relatively recent US college graduates and their information-seeking behavior for continued learning. The goal of the survey was to collect quantitative data about the information-seeking behavior of a sample of recent graduates—the strategies, techniques, information support systems, and best practices—used to support lifelong learning in post-college life. The dataset contains responses from 1,651 respondents to a 21-item questionnaire administered between October 9, 2014 and December 15, 2014. The voluntary sample of respondents consisted of relatively recent graduates, who had completed their degrees between 2007 and 2012, from one of 10 US colleges and universities in the institutional sample. Quantitative data are included in the dataset about the learning needs of relatively recent graduates as well as the information sources they used in three arenas of their post-college lives (i.e., personal life, workplace, and the communities in which they resided). Demographic information—including age, gender, major, GPA, employment status, graduate school attendance, and geographic proximity of current residence to their alma mater—is also included in the dataset for the respondents. "Staying Smart: How Today's Graduates Continue to Learn Once They Complete College," Alison J. Head, Project Information Literacy Research Report, Seattle: University of Washington Information School (January 5, 2016), 112 pages, 6.9 MB.

Historical dataset showing Virgin Islands (U.S.) literacy rate by year from N/A to N/A.

This sixth volume of PISA 2012 results examines 15-year-old students’ performance in financial literacy in the 18 countries and economies that participated in this optional assessment. It also discusses the relationship of financial literacy to students’ and their families’ background and to students’ mathematics and reading skills. The volume also explores students’ access to money and their experience with financial matters. In addition, it provides an overview of the current status of financial education in schools and highlights relevant case studies.

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

This dataset contains synthetic education performance indicators across five regions (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America) from 1980 to 2020. The data includes metrics such as literacy rate, student-teacher ratio, school completion rate, and government education spending as a percentage of GDP.

Historical dataset showing American Samoa literacy rate by year from 1980 to 1980.

Context

There's a story behind every dataset and here's your opportunity to share yours.

Content

This Data consists of some world statistics published by the World Bank since 1961

Variables:

1) Agriculture and Rural development - 42 indicators published on this website. https://data.worldbank.org/topic/agriculture-and-rural-development

2) Access to electricity (% of the population) - Access to electricity is the percentage of the population with access to electricity. Electrification data are collected from industry, national surveys, and international sources.

3) CPIA gender equality rating (1=low to 6=high) - Gender equality assesses the extent to which the country has installed institutions and programs to enforce laws and policies that promote equal access for men and women in education, health, the economy, and protection under law.

4) Mineral rents (% of GDP) - Mineral rents are the difference between the value of production for a stock of minerals at world prices and their total costs of production. Minerals included in the calculation are tin, gold, lead, zinc, iron, copper, nickel, silver, bauxite, and phosphate.

5) GDP per capita (current US$) - GDP per capita is gross domestic product divided by midyear population. GDP is the sum of gross value added by all resident producers in the economy plus any product taxes and minus any subsidies not included in the value of the products. It is calculated without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated assets or for depletion and degradation of natural resources. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

6) Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above)- 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.

7) Net migration - Net migration is the net total of migrants during the period, that is, the total number of immigrants less the annual number of emigrants, including both citizens and noncitizens. Data are five-year estimates.

8) Birth rate, crude (per 1,000 people) - Crude birth rate indicates the number of live births occurring during the year, per 1,000 population estimated at midyear. Subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate provides the rate of natural increase, which is equal to the rate of population change in the absence of migration.

9) Death rate, crude (per 1,000 people) - Crude death rate indicates the number of deaths occurring during the year, per 1,000 population estimated at midyear. Subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate provides the rate of natural increase, which is equal to the rate of population change in the absence of migration.

10) Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births) - Infant mortality rate is the number of infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year.

11) Population, total - Total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. The values shown are midyear estimates.

Acknowledgements

These datasets are publicly available for anyone to use under the following terms provided by the Dataset Source https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/legal/terms-of-use-for-datasets

Banner photo by https://population.un.org/wpp/Maps/

Inspiration

Subsaharan Africa and east Asia record high population total, actually Subsaharan Africa population bypassed Europe and central Asia population by 2010, has this been influenced by crop and food production, large arable land, high crude birth rates(influx), low mortality rates(exits from the population) or Net migration.

This dataset offers a detailed comparison of key global players like USA, Russia, China, India, Canada, Australia, and others across various economic, social, and environmental metrics. By comparing countries on indicators such as GDP, population, healthcare access, education levels, internet penetration, military spending, and much more, this dataset provides valuable insights for researchers, policymakers, and analysts.

🔍 Key Comparisons:

Economic Indicators: GDP, inflation rates, unemployment rates, etc. Social Indicators: Literacy rates, healthcare quality, life expectancy, etc. Environmental Indicators: CO2 emissions, renewable energy usage, protected areas, etc. Technological Advancements: Internet users, mobile subscriptions, tech exports, etc. Military Spending: Defense budgets, military personnel numbers, etc. This dataset is perfect for those who want to compare countries in terms of development, growth, and global standing. It can be used for data analysis, policy planning, research, and even education.

✨ Key Features:

Comprehensive Coverage: Includes multiple countries with key metrics. Multiple Domains: Economic, social, environmental, technological, and military data. Up-to-date Information: Covers data from the last decade to provide recent insights. Research Ready: Suitable for academic research, visualizations, and analysis.