1 of 5 10/2/2008 10:16 AM UN Home Department of Economic and Social Affairs Economic and Social Development Home UN logo Statistical Division Search Site map About us Contact us Millennium Profiles Demographic & Social Energy Environment Industry National Accounts Trade Indicators on illiteracy Social indicators Estimated adult (15+) illiteracy rate (%) 2000-2004 Introduction Statistics Country or area Men Women Year Men Back Last update: 28 January 2005 Illiteracy rate (%) Ages 15-24 Women Ages 25+ Women Men Albania 0.8 1.7 2001 b 0.6 0.5 Algeria 22.0 40.4 2000-2004 a 6.0 14.4 Angola 17.9 46.2 2001 d 17.3 37.4 Argentina 3.0 3.0 2000-2004 a 1.6 1.1 Armenia 0.3 0.8 2001 b 0.2 0.1 0.4 1.0 Azerbaijan 0.5 1.8 1999 b 0.1 0.1 0.7 2.4 Bahrain 11.4 16.4 2001 b 3.2 2.7 Bangladesh 49.7 68.6 2000-2004 a 42.2 58.9 Barbados 0.3 0.3 2000-2004 a 0.2 0.2 Belarus 0.2 0.4 2000-2004 a 0.2 0.2 Belize 23.3 22.9 2000 b 16.1 15.4 Benin 45.2 74.5 2000-2004 a 27.3 61.5 Bolivia 6.9 19.3 2001 b 1.5 3.9 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1.6 8.9 2000 d 0.4 0.3 Botswana 23.9 18.5 2000-2004 a 14.5 7.2 Brazil 13.8 13.5 2000 b 7.3 4.3 16.4 17.0 Brunei Darussalam 3.7 8.6 2001 b 1.0 0.7 Bulgaria 0.9 1.9 2000-2004 a 0.2 0.4 Burkina Faso 81.5 91.9 1996 b 74.5 86.0 Burundi 33.2 48.1 2000 d 24.4 30.5 Cambodia 19.2 40.7 1998 b 18.1 28.8 21.7 49.0 Cameroon 23.0 40.2 Cape Verde 14.6 32.0 2000-2004 a 8.0 13.7
2 of 5 10/2/2008 10:16 AM Central African Rep. 35.2 66.5 2000 d 29.7 53.2 Chad 59.4 87.3 2000 d 44.7 76.9 Chile 4.2 4.4 2002 b 1.2 0.8 China e 4.9 13.5 2000 b 0.8 1.5 5.9 16.6 China, Macao SAR 4.7 12.2 2001 b 0.6 0.2 4.0 8.5 Colombia 7.9 7.8 2000-2004 a 3.5 2.1 Comoros 36.5 50.9 2000-2004 a 34.4 47.8 Congo 11.1 22.9 2000-2004 a 1.6 2.7 Costa Rica 4.3 4.1 2000-2004 a 1.9 1.3 Côte d'ivoire 39.9 61.9 2000 d 30.5 48.5 Croatia 0.7 2.9 2001 b 0.4 0.3 0.8 3.4 Cuba 3.0 3.2 2000-2004 a 0.2 0.2 Cyprus 1.4 4.9 2001 b 0.3 0.2 1.6 6.0 Dem. Rep. of the Congo 20.2 48.1 2000 d 23.3 38.9 Dominican Republic 12.0 12.7 2000 d 6.9 5.0 Ecuador 7.7 10.3 2001 b 3.6 3.5 9.4 13.1 Egypt 32.8 56.4 1996 b 21.0 33.1 El Salvador 17.6 22.9 2000-2004 a 10.4 11.9 Estonia 0.2 0.2 2000 b 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.1 Ethiopia 50.8 66.2 2000-2004 a 37.0 48.2 Fiji 5.5 8.6 1996 b 0.0 0.0 2.5 6.3 Ghana 37.1 54.3 Guatemala 22.7 37.5 2000-2004 a 13.8 26.2 Haiti 46.2 50.0 2000-2004 a 34.2 33.5 Honduras 20.2 19.8 2001 b 13.1 9.1 Hungary 0.6 0.7 2001 b 0.6 0.4 0.6 0.8 Indonesia 7.5 16.6 2000-2004 a 1.5 2.4 Iran (Islamic Rep. of) 16.5 29.6 Israel 2.7 6.6 2000-2004 a 0.4 0.6 Jamaica 16.2 8.6 2000-2004 a 8.7 2.2 Jordan 4.5 14.1 2000-2004 a 0.7 0.5 Kazakhstan 0.2 0.7 1999 b 0.2 0.1 0.3 0.9 Kenya 10.0 21.5 2000-2004 a 3.6 4.9 Kuwait 15.3 19.0 2000-2004 a 7.8 6.1 Kyrgyzstan 0.7 1.9 1999 b 0.3 0.3 0.8 2.5 Lao People's Dem. Rep. 23.0 39.1 2001 c 17.4 25.3 Latvia 0.2 0.3 2000 b 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.3 Lesotho 26.3 9.7 Liberia 27.7 60.7 2000-2004 a 13.7 44.6 Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 8.2 29.3 2000-2004 a 0.2 6.0 Lithuania 0.4 0.4 2001 b 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.4 Madagascar 23.6 34.8 2000 d 27.6 31.9 Malawi 25.1 46.0 1998 b 17.9 29.3 Malaysia 8.0 14.6 2000 b 2.8 2.7 Maldives 2.7 2.8 2000-2004 a 0.9 0.8 Mali 73.3 88.1 1998 b 67.7 83.1 Malta 8.2 6.6 2000-2004 a 2.4 0.2
3 of 5 10/2/2008 10:16 AM Martinique 2.8 2.0 2000-2004 a 0.2 0.2 Mauritania 48.5 68.7 2000-2004 a 42.6 58.2 Mauritius 11.8 19.5 2000 b 6.3 4.6 13.5 24.0 Mexico 7.4 11.3 2000 b 3.2 3.5 9.3 14.7 Mongolia 2.0 2.5 2000 b 3.0 1.6 1.5 2.9 Morocco 36.7 61.7 2000-2004 a 22.6 38.7 Mozambique 37.7 68.6 2000-2004 a 23.4 50.8 Myanmar 6.3 13.8 2000 d 4.4 6.8 Namibia 16.2 17.2 2000-2004 a 9.4 6.0 Nepal 37.3 65.1 2001 b 19.4 39.8 45.0 76.4 Netherlands Antilles 3.3 3.3 2000-2004 a 1.8 1.5 New Caledonia 3.2 4.5 Nicaragua 23.2 23.4 2001 c 16.4 11.2 Niger 69.6 89.4 2000 d 62.8 84.3 Nigeria 25.6 40.6 2000-2004 a 9.3 13.5 Occupied Palestinian Ter. 7.8 20.3 1997 b 3.1 2.8 10.6 29.9 Oman 18.0 34.6 2000-2004 a 0.4 2.7 Pakistan 46.6 71.5 1998 b 32.9 56.9 50.6 78.5 Panama 7.5 8.8 2000 b 3.5 4.4 8.9 10.4 Paraguay 6.9 9.8 2000/2001 c 3.8 3.5 Peru 8.7 19.7 2002 c 2.3 4.4 Philippines 7.5 7.3 2000 b 5.5 4.3 8.3 8.7 Puerto Rico 6.1 5.6 2000-2004 a 2.9 1.6 Qatar 15.1 17.7 1997 b 5.9 4.2 Republic of Moldova 2.5 5.0 2000 d 1.7 0.9 Reunion 13.7 9.8 2000-2004 a 4.2 0.3 Romania 1.6 3.7 2002 b 2.3 2.2 1.4 4.1 Russian Federation 0.3 0.5 2000-2004 a 0.2 0.2 Rwanda 29.5 41.2 2000 d 22.8 24.1 Saint Lucia 10.4 9.4 2001 b 5.2 4.1 12.4 11.3 Samoa 1.1 1.6 2000-2004 a 0.6 0.5 Saudi Arabia 15.9 30.5 2000-2004 a 4.6 8.4 Senegal 43.9 71.5 2000 d 37.7 57.9 Serbia and Montenegro 1.1 5.9 2002 b 0.6 0.7 1.2 6.9 Seychelles 8.6 7.7 2003 b 1.2 0.6 Sierra Leone 60.2 79.5 2000 d 53.1 70.1 Singapore 3.4 11.4 2000 b 0.6 0.4 4.0 13.4 Slovakia 0.3 0.3 2001 b 0.4 0.3 Slovenia 0.3 0.4 2000-2004 a 0.2 0.2 South Africa 15.9 19.1 1996 b 6.3 5.6 19.5 24.0 Sri Lanka 5.3 10.4 2000-2004 a 2.8 3.1 Sudan 30.8 50.1 2000 d 18.4 30.8 Swaziland 19.6 21.9 2000 d 13.2 10.6 Syrian Arab Republic 9.0 25.8 2002 b 2.9 7.0 Tajikistan 0.3 0.7 2000 b 0.2 0.2 Thailand 5.1 9.5 2000 b 1.9 2.2 5.4 12.1 The FYR of Macedonia 1.8 5.9 2002 b 1.0 1.5 2.0 7.0
4 of 5 10/2/2008 10:16 AM Togo 31.5 61.7 2000 d 16.9 36.7 Tonga 1.2 1.1 1996 b 0.8 0.6 1.4 1.2 Trinidad and Tobago 1.0 2.1 2000-2004 a 0.2 0.2 Tunisia 16.9 36.9 2000-2004 a 2.1 9.4 Turkey 5.6 21.5 2000 b 2.2 6.8 7.0 27.4 Turkmenistan 0.7 1.7 1995 b 0.2 0.2 Uganda 21.2 40.8 2000-2004 a 13.7 26.0 Ukraine 1.3 4.2 2001 b 0.4 0.3 1.6 4.9 United Arab Emirates 24.4 19.3 2000-2004 a 11.8 5.0 United Rep. of Tanzania 14.8 30.8 2000-2004 a 6.2 10.6 Uruguay 2.7 1.9 2000-2004 a 1.2 0.6 Uzbekistan 0.4 1.1 2000-2004 a 0.3 0.4 Venezuela 6.7 7.3 2001 b 3.7 1.9 8.0 9.4 Viet Nam 6.1 13.1 1999 b f 5.8 6.4 6.3 17.7 Yemen 30.5 71.5 2000-2004 a 15.7 49.1 Zimbabwe 6.2 13.7 2000-2004 a 1.1 3.8 Sources: Source: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Estimated adult illiteracy For estimated adult illiteracy, calculated from adult literacy rates published in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics web site http://www.uis.unesco.org, accessed on January 2005. Illiteracy rate For illiteracy rate among persons aged 15-24 and 25+, prepared by the Statistics Division of the United Nations Secretariat from United Nations Demographic Yearbook database (as of November 2004) and estimates of youth illiteracy published in http://www.uis.unesco.org accessed on January 2005. Footnotes: a Estimates prepared by UNESCO Institute for Statistics (July 2002 assessment). b Based on the population census of year shown. c Based on a survey. d Based on Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS). e For statistical purposes the data for China do not include Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions and Taiwan province of China. f Data shown for ages 15-29 and 30+. Back Technical notes: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization defines an illiterate person as
5 of 5 10/2/2008 10:16 AM someone who can not, with understanding, both read and write a short, simple statement on his or her everyday life. A person who can only read but not write, or can write but not read is considered to be illiterate. A person who can only write figures, his or her name or a memorized ritual phrase is also not considered literate. This definition of literacy is widely used in national population censuses and surveys but its interpretation and application may vary to some extent among countries, depending on national, social and cultural circumstances. Furthermore, this concept of literacy includes persons who, though familiar with the basics of reading and writing, might still be considered functionally illiterate. Literacy is a good measure of educational achievement in developing regions. For young people in developing regions, literacy may be a better measure of education than enrolment since it usually reflects a minimal level of successfully completed schooling. The first two columns present the latest estimates of adult (aged 15+) illiteracy prepared by UNESCO. The rates of illiteracy among persons aged 15-24 and 25+ shown here are prepared from the United Nations Demographic Yearbook database and data published by UNESCO. For many countries or areas, illiteracy rates are not available from UNESCO for one or more of the following reasons: (a) illiteracy is believed to have been reduced to minimal levels through several decades of universal primary education, (b) it has not been possible to establish revised estimates following recent mass literacy campaigns, (c) not even a minimal database is available for making rough estimates, or (d) countries have preferred that no estimate be published. Back to top Statistics Division Home Contact us Search Site Map Copyright United Nations, 2005