Adult literacy rate
People aged 15 and above who can both read and write, with understanding, a short simple statement about their everyday life. Data come mainly from censuses and household surveys and are not available every year.
45 countries have a value for 2022, the latest period with data for most countries. Some countries have newer figures; see the ranking below for each country's latest year.
Trend over time
The chart loads when you scroll to it. The table below shows the same data.
The chart shows a calculation from the published values. The table below keeps the published values.
% of people aged 15 and above. Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators. Gaps mean no published value; points are not joined across missing years.
| Period | World | China | India | Brazil |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 87.7% | – | 78.2% | 94.7% |
| 2023 | 87.6% | – | 81.7% | 94.6% |
| 2022 | 87.4% | – | 76.3% | 94.4% |
| 2021 | 87.2% | – | 76.1% | 94.8% |
| 2020 | 87.0% | 96.7% | 75.5% | 94.7% |
| 2019 | 86.8% | – | 74.9% | 93.9% |
| 2018 | 86.8% | – | 73.7% | 93.2% |
| 2017 | 86.5% | – | – | 93.1% |
| 2016 | 86.3% | – | – | 92.8% |
| 2015 | 86.0% | – | – | 92.1% |
| 2014 | 85.6% | – | – | 91.7% |
| 2013 | 85.2% | – | – | 91.5% |
| 2012 | 84.9% | – | 69.8% | 91.3% |
| 2011 | 84.7% | – | 69.3% | 91.4% |
| 2010 | 84.4% | 95.1% | 68.3% | 90.4% |
| 2009 | 83.8% | – | – | 90.3% |
| 2008 | 83.5% | – | – | 90.0% |
| 2007 | 83.1% | – | – | 90.0% |
| 2006 | 82.5% | – | 62.8% | 89.6% |
| 2005 | 82.6% | – | – | – |
| 2004 | 82.6% | – | – | 88.6% |
| 2003 | 82.2% | – | – | – |
| 2002 | 81.7% | – | – | – |
| 2001 | 81.4% | – | 61.0% | – |
| 2000 | 81.1% | 90.9% | – | 86.4% |
A dash means no value was published for that period.
In short
- Among the 45 countries with a value for 2022, the highest is Tuvalu (100.0%) and the lowest Niger (35.6%).
- Half of the countries are above 90.8% and half below.
- From 2021 to 2022 the value rose in 3 countries and fell in 1.
- The figure for the world was 87.4% in 2022, against 86.5% in 2017 (+0.9 percentage points).
About this measure
Source and dates
All countries in 2022 Every value is for 2022, so the countries are compared at the same point in time.
- 1 Tuvalu 100.0%
- 2 Uzbekistan 100.0%
- 3 San Marino 99.9%
- 4 Turkmenistan 99.9%
- 5 Armenia 99.8%
- 6 Georgia 99.6%
- 7 Serbia 99.3%
- 8 Uruguay 98.8%
- 9 Mongolia 98.7%
- 10 United Arab Emirates 98.3%
- 11 Bahrain 97.9%
- 12 West Bank and Gaza 97.8%
- 13 Oman 97.3%
- 14 Ecuador 96.3%
- 15 Viet Nam 96.1%
- 16 Malaysia 95.8%
- 17 Colombia 95.3%
- 18 Mexico 95.1%
- 19 Brazil 94.4%
- 20 Dominican Republic 93.7%
- 21 Sri Lanka 92.5%
- 22 Thailand 91.1%
- 23 Eswatini 90.8%
- 24 El Salvador 89.4%
- 25 Iran 88.6%
- 26 Honduras 88.2%
- 27 Belize 87.9%
- 28 Papua New Guinea 87.0%
- 29 Guatemala 83.0%
- 30 Zambia 80.0%
- 31 Egypt 79.5%
- 32 Bangladesh 79.0%
- 33 Rwanda 78.8%
- 34 Tanzania 78.2%
- 35 India 76.3%
- 36 Togo 72.6%
- 37 Timor-Leste 69.4%
- 38 Bhutan 64.9%
- 39 Guinea-Bissau 63.9%
- 40 Mozambique 61.7%
- 41 Ethiopia 60.5%
- 42 Somalia, Fed. Rep. 54.1%
- 43 Benin 51.4%
- 44 Burkina Faso 40.9%
- 45 Niger 35.6%
- East Asia and Pacific 96.4%
- Europe and Central Asia 98.8%
- Latin America and Caribbean 94.7%
- Middle East and North Africa 74.5%
- North America 98.8%
- South Asia 76.9%
- Sub-Saharan Africa 68.2%
- World 87.4%
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Related measures
- Primary school enrolment (gross)World Bank
In this topic
Map
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Grey: no value for 2022. Colour groups split countries into roughly equal numbers. Boundaries: Natural Earth.