Youth literacy by country, 2022
Share of people aged 15 to 24 who can both read and write, with understanding, a short simple statement about their everyday life.
59 places ranked for 2022. Highest: Mauritius (100.0%). Lowest: Niger (53.9%). The median is 98.5%.
Highest 10
- 1. Mauritius 100.0%
- 2. San Marino 100.0%
- 3. Tuvalu 100.0%
- 4. Uzbekistan 100.0%
- 5. Turkmenistan 99.9%
- 6. Philippines 99.8%
- 7. Armenia 99.8%
- 8. Serbia 99.7%
- 9. Georgia 99.7%
- 10. Mongolia 99.7%
Lowest 10
- 59. Niger 53.9%
- 58. Afghanistan 62.7%
- 57. Burkina Faso 62.8%
- 56. Somalia, Fed. Rep. 70.7%
- 55. Benin 71.3%
- 54. Mozambique 71.4%
- 53. Senegal 75.3%
- 52. Guinea-Bissau 82.2%
- 51. Zambia 84.5%
- 50. Ethiopia 84.7%
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The chart shows the 40 highest values; the table lists all 59. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), databrowser.uis.unesco.org.
In short
- Among the 59 countries with a value for 2022, the highest is Mauritius (100.0%) and the lowest Niger (53.9%).
- Half of the countries are above 98.5% and half below.
- From 2021 to 2022 the value rose in 4 countries and fell in 3.
Full ranking
| # | Country | Value | Period | Relative size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mauritius | 100.0% | 2022 | |
| 2 | San Marino | 100.0% | 2022 | |
| 3 | Tuvalu | 100.0% | 2022 | |
| 4 | Uzbekistan | 100.0% | 2022 | |
| 5 | Turkmenistan | 99.9% | 2022 | |
| 6 | Philippines | 99.8% | 2022 | |
| 7 | Armenia | 99.8% | 2022 | |
| 8 | Serbia | 99.7% | 2022 | |
| 9 | Georgia | 99.7% | 2022 | |
| 10 | Mongolia | 99.7% | 2022 | |
| 11 | Oman | 99.7% | 2022 | |
| 12 | United Arab Emirates | 99.7% | 2022 | |
| 13 | Ecuador | 99.6% | 2022 | |
| 14 | Qatar | 99.4% | 2022 | |
| 15 | West Bank and Gaza | 99.4% | 2022 | |
| 16 | Brazil | 99.3% | 2022 | |
| 17 | Chile | 99.3% | 2022 | |
| 18 | Panama | 99.3% | 2022 | |
| 19 | Peru | 99.3% | 2022 | |
| 20 | Bahrain | 99.2% | 2022 | |
| 21 | Uruguay | 99.1% | 2022 | |
| 22 | Viet Nam | 99.1% | 2022 | |
| 23 | Mexico | 98.9% | 2022 | |
| 24 | Colombia | 98.9% | 2022 | |
| 25 | Sri Lanka | 98.8% | 2022 | |
| 26 | Malaysia | 98.8% | 2022 | |
| 27 | Eswatini | 98.7% | 2022 | |
| 28 | Iran | 98.6% | 2022 | |
| 29 | Paraguay | 98.6% | 2022 | |
| 30 | Dominican Republic | 98.5% | 2022 | |
| 31 | El Salvador | 98.3% | 2022 | |
| 32 | Thailand | 98.2% | 2022 | |
| 33 | Bhutan | 97.7% | 2022 | |
| 34 | India | 96.5% | 2022 | |
| 35 | Belize | 96.2% | 2022 | |
| 36 | Honduras | 95.9% | 2022 | |
| 37 | Egypt | 95.2% | 2022 | |
| 38 | Guatemala | 95.0% | 2022 | |
| 39 | Laos | 93.8% | 2022 | |
| 40 | Indonesia | 93.8% | 2022 | |
| 41 | Jamaica | 93.6% | 2022 | |
| 42 | Bangladesh | 93.4% | 2022 | |
| 43 | Türkiye | 92.2% | 2022 | |
| 44 | Trinidad and Tobago | 92.0% | 2022 | |
| 45 | Papua New Guinea | 91.9% | 2022 | |
| 46 | Togo | 90.4% | 2022 | |
| 47 | Rwanda | 90.0% | 2022 | |
| 48 | Tanzania | 87.1% | 2022 | |
| 49 | Timor-Leste | 86.1% | 2022 | |
| 50 | Ethiopia | 84.7% | 2022 | |
| 51 | Zambia | 84.5% | 2022 | |
| 52 | Guinea-Bissau | 82.2% | 2022 | |
| 53 | Senegal | 75.3% | 2022 | |
| 54 | Mozambique | 71.4% | 2022 | |
| 55 | Benin | 71.3% | 2022 | |
| 56 | Somalia, Fed. Rep. | 70.7% | 2022 | |
| 57 | Burkina Faso | 62.8% | 2022 | |
| 58 | Afghanistan | 62.7% | 2022 | |
| 59 | Niger | 53.9% | 2022 |
Places are ordered from the highest to the lowest value. Group medians on this site are the middle value of the members with data for the same year; they are not official aggregates.
How this ranking works
Every country is ranked on its value for 2022, the latest period that most countries have, so all values are for the same point in time. Countries without a value for 2022 are left out. Groups and aggregates such as the European Union are not ranked. Values are as published by UNESCO UIS; the ranking is a plain ordering from the highest to the lowest value and says nothing about whether a high value is good or bad.
Earlier years: use the year selector above. Methodology · Coverage and freshness