The Literacy Rate of the Population

More than 800 million adults worldwide still cannot read or write. Illiterate populations significantly hinder the development of countries. For example, in the United States, people with low literacy levels are among the lowest-paid workers and are 16.5 times more likely to receive government assistance (data from the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics). This demonstrates a direct correlation between literacy levels and financial well-being.

Over the past two centuries, literacy rates have significantly increased. Each new generation is better educated than the previous one. Currently, the worst situation is observed in African countries.

Country rankings in 2024

Rank		Literacy ratepercents	English proficiency level
1	Barbados	100	-
2	Slovakia	100	587.00
3	Azerbaijan	100	463.00
4	Tajikistan	100	388.00
5	Lithuania	100	576.00
6	Latvia	100	569.00
7	Estonia	100	570.00
8	Belarus	100	539.00
9	Norway	100	614.00
10	Turkmenistan	100	-
11	Slovenia	100	-
12	Armenia	100	528.00
13	Kazakhstan	100	415.00
14	Ukraine	100	530.00
15	North Korea	100	-
16	Finland	100	597.00
17	Cuba	100	531.00
18	Russia	100	532.00
19	Uzbekistan	100	442.00
20	Georgia	100	541.00
21	Kyrgyzstan	100	450.00
22	United States	99	-
23	Cayman Islands	99	-
24	Hungary Visa Digital Nomad Business Residence Permit	99	588.00
25	Samoa	99	-
26	Canada	99	-
27	Japan	99	457.00
28	United Kingdom	99	-
29	Netherlands	99	647.00
30	France	99	531.00
31	Czechia	99	565.00
32	Switzerland	99	553.00
33	Poland	99	598.00
34	Romania	99	596.00
35	Montenegro Visa Digital Nomad Business Residence Permit	99	-
36	Sweden	99	609.00
37	Croatia Visa Digital Nomad	99	603.00
38	Serbia Business Residence Permit	99	569.00
39	Ireland	99	-
40	Trinidad & Tobago	99	-
41	Uruguay	99	533.00
42	Antigua & Barbuda	99	-
43	Argentina	99	560.00
44	Germany Freelance visa Work visa The Blue Card The Chance Card Study visa Career Counseling Career support	99	604.00
45	Australia	99	-
46	Belgium	99	608.00
47	New Zealand	99	-
48	Denmark	99	615.00
49	Iceland	99	-
50	Cyprus	99	-
51	Spain Visa Digital Nomad Startup Visa Study visa Financially Independent Residence Permit	99	535.00
52	Tonga	99	-
53	Moldova	99	535.00
54	Mongolia	99	482.00
55	Italy Visa Digital Nomad Study visa	99	535.00
56	North Macedonia	98	-
57	Aruba	98	-
58	Marshall Islands	98	-
59	Costa Rica	98	534.00
60	New Caledonia	98	-
61	Maldives	98	-
62	Greece	98	602.00
63	South Korea	98	525.00
64	United Arab Emirates	98	486.00
65	Saudi Arabia	98	408.00
66	Palestinian Territories	98	445.00
67	Albania	98	533.00
68	Austria	98	631.00
69	Jordan	98	431.00
70	Bulgaria Business Residence Permit	98	589.00
71	Bosnia & Herzegovina	97	-
72	Venezuela	97	508.00
73	Singapore	97	631.00
74	Macao SAR China	97	-
75	Brunei	97	-
76	Palau	97	-
77	Israel	97	514.00
78	Turkey Visa Digital Nomad	97	493.00
79	China	97	464.00
80	Portugal Visa Digital Nomad Financially Independent Residence Permit Freelance visa Study visa Startup visa	96	607.00
81	Philippines	96	578.00
82	Chile	96	518.00
83	Kuwait	96	461.00
84	Seychelles	96	-
85	Panama	96	486.00
86	Oman	96	418.00
87	Colombia	96	480.00
88	Vietnam	96	505.00
89	Indonesia	96	473.00
90	Malta	95	-
91	Malaysia	95	568.00
92	Lebanon	95	496.00
93	Mexico	95	451.00
94	Paraguay	95	530.00
95	South Africa	95	605.00
96	Peru	94	521.00
97	Dominican Republic	94	512.00
98	Thailand	94	416.00
99	Equatorial Guinea	94	-
100	Ecuador	94	467.00
101	Suriname	94	-
102	Qatar	93	482.00
103	Brazil	93	487.00
104	Bolivia	92	532.00
105	Namibia	92	-
106	Sri Lanka	92	491.00
107	Puerto Rico	92	-
108	Bahrain	91	476.00
109	Mauritius	91	-
110	Côte d’Ivoire	90	409.00
111	Myanmar (Burma}	89	450.00
112	El Salvador	89	524.00
113	Zimbabwe	89	-
114	Honduras	89	506.00
115	Jamaica	88	-
116	Eswatini	88	-
117	Zambia	87	-
118	Botswana	87	-
119	Cape Verde	87	-
120	Iran	86	505.00
121	Libya	86	392.00
122	Guyana	86	-
123	Iraq	86	410.00
124	Gabon	85	-
125	Laos	85	-
126	Nicaragua	83	503.00
127	Kenya	82	584.00
128	Cambodia	81	421.00
129	Algeria	81	475.00
130	Syria	81	467.00
131	Guatemala	81	515.00
132	Tunisia	79	502.00
133	Ghana	79	537.00
134	Tanzania	78	491.00
135	Eritrea	77	-
136	Uganda	77	529.00
137	Congo - Kinshasa	77	385.00
138	Solomon Islands	77	-
139	Lesotho	77	-
140	Belize	77	-
141	Cameroon	77	438.00
142	Madagascar	77	474.00
143	Bangladesh	75	504.00
144	Morocco	74	478.00
145	India	74	504.00
146	Rwanda	73	405.00
147	Egypt	71	463.00
148	Nepal	68	507.00
149	Timor-Leste	68	-
150	Burundi	68	-
151	Togo	67	-
152	Bhutan	67	-
153	Angola	66	416.00
154	Papua New Guinea	62	-
155	Haiti	62	421.00
156	Malawi	62	460.00
157	Nigeria	62	562.00
158	Mozambique	61	482.00
159	Sudan	61	430.00
160	Comoros	59	-
161	Pakistan	58	497.00
162	Yemen	54	392.00
163	Mauritania	53	-
164	Senegal	52	438.00
165	Ethiopia	52	490.00
166	Gambia	51	-
167	Liberia	48	-
168	Guinea-Bissau	46	-
169	Sierra Leone	43	-
170	Benin	42	416.00
171	Guinea	40	-
172	Burkina Faso	39	-
173	Central African Republic	37	-
174	Niger	35	-
175	South Sudan	35	363.00
176	Mali	31	-
177	Afghanistan	31	456.00
178	Chad	22	-
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Top 10 countries with the highest number of literate people

There are quite a few countries in which the percentage of the literate population tends to 100 percent. This was due to the introduction of universal compulsory schooling in most States. For example, with rare exceptions, all citizens of Barbados, Slovakia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Norway, Turkmenistan, Slovenia, Armenia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Russia and many other countries can read and write.

There are countries where the percentage of literate people is 95% or less, but this is still a high level. These include, for example, Malaysia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa, Thailand, Ecuador, Suriname, Brazil, Bahrain and many others.

Top 10 countries with the lowest number of literate people

If the percentage of illiterate people is equal to or exceeds the percentage of literate people, then most often the reason is significant class inequality and low economic development of the country, or, for example, military conflicts that prevent many children from mastering literacy.

The lowest percentage of the literate population was recorded in Chad, where about 22% of the population can read and write. Afghanistan and Mali are in third place from the end, where about 31% of people are literate. And they are followed by South Sudan and Niger with 35% of literate citizens.

Other “illiterate countries” dozens: Central African Republic (37%), Burkina Faso (39%), Guinea (40%), Benin (42%), Sierra Leone (43%), Guinea-Bissau (46%) and Liberia (48%).

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