What is literacy rate

To assess the extent to which progress can be expected in the years to come, it is convenient to break down literacy estimates by age groups.

As it can be seen, in the majority of nations there is a large difference in literacy rates across generations you can change the map to show literacy rates for different groups by clicking on the corresponding buttons at the top. These large differences across generations point to a global trend: the high literacy rate among the youth indicates that as time passes, the literacy rate for the overall population will continue to increase.

We highlighted above the fact that most low and middle income countries feature large differences in literacy rates across generations. The visualization shows specifically how remarkably large these differences are in Northern Africa and the Middle East. The scatter plot emphasises the point already made. As you can see, younger generations are more likely to be literate than older generations around the world.

And in some countries the gaps are dramatic. In the chart you can use the slider at the bottom to check how these generational gaps have been changing in recent decades. You can see that throughout Africa the changes have been mainly horizontal i.

This is in contrast to richer regions, such as Europe, where the expansion of education started earlier and as a consequence changes have been mainly vertical e.

The visualization shows that particularly in many poorer countries the literacy rate for young women is lower than the rate for young men. This chart shows the literacy rate by sex over time. This visualization shows the ratio of the literacy rate between young women and men around the world. Numeracy is the ability to understand and work with numbers.

Compared to the data on literacy we have less information on numeracy skills in the world today. A world map of these scores can be found here. The scatter plot shows how adults in OECD countries scored in the literacy and numeracy dimension.

We see that the two aspects are closely correlated, those countries that have high literacy also have high numeracy.

PIAAC is only available for the very recent past, but it can still give us some insights of how numeracy skills in the world have changed. If we compare the numeracy scores of the young cohort with the older cohort in a scatterplot we find that in most countries numeracy skills have recently increased.

In the chart we present a breakdown of UNESCO literacy estimates, showing the main methodologies used, and how these have changed over time.

To explore changes across time use the slider underneath the map. The breakdown covers four categories: self-reported literacy declared directly by individuals, self-reported literacy declared by the head of the household, tested literacy from proficiency examinations, and indirect estimation or extrapolation.

In this table you find details regarding all literacy definitions and sources, country by country, and how we categorised them for the purpose of this chart. Another way to dissect the same data, is to classify literacy estimates according to the type of measurement instrument used to collect the relevant data.

In the next chart we explore this, splitting estimates into three categories: sampling, including data from literacy tests and household surveys; census data; and other instruments e. Literacy surveys have the potential of being more accurate — when the sampling is done correctly — because they allow for more specific and detailed measurement than short and generic questions in population censuses.

As mentioned above, recent data on literacy is often based on a single question included in national population censuses or household surveys presented to respondents above a certain age, where literacy skills are self-reported. These self-reports of literacy skills have several limitations:. Similarly, inferring literacy from data on educational attainment is also problematic, since schooling does not produce literacy in the same way everywhere: Proficiency tests show that in many low-income countries, a large fraction of second-grade primary-school students cannot read a single word of a short text; and for very few people in these countries going to school for four or five years guarantees basic literacy.

Even at a conceptual level there is lack of consensus — national definitions of literacy that are based on educational attainment vary substantially from country to country. For example, in Greece people are considered literate if they have finished six years of primary education; while in Paraguay you qualify as literate if you have completed two years of primary school.

Given the limitations of self-reported or indirectly inferred literacy estimates, efforts are being made at both national and international levels to conduct standardized literacy tests to assess proficiency in a systematic way.

In particular, large cross-country assessment surveys have been developed to overcome the challenges of producing comparable literacy data. Most of the countries with the lowest literacy are located in South Asia , West Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa —regions which also include most of the poorest countries in the world.

There is also a gender gap in literacy: Of the roughly million adults worldwide who cannot read or write, nearly two-thirds are female. This disparity is particularly noticeable in less-developed countries, in which women are often expected to stay at home and care for the house and children while the men go off to work.

The developed nations of the world have much higher literacy rates with smaller gaps—if any—between the genders. For a full list of the best available information on literacy rates around the world, see the table below. It is common practice to present and analyse literacy rates together with the absolute number of adult illiterates as improvements in literacy rates may sometimes be accompanied by increases in the illiterate population due to a changing demographic structure.

Some countries apply definitions and criteria for literacy which are different from the international standards, or equate persons with no schooling to illiterates, or change definitions between censuses. Some assessments of literacy may also rely on self-reporting, possibly reducing accuracy. In countries where nearly all individuals have completed basic education, the literacy rate provides limited information on the variance of literacy skills in the population.

To show the accumulated achievement of primary education and literacy programmes in imparting basic literacy skills to the population, thereby enabling them to apply such skills in daily life and to continue learning and communicating using the written word.

Data as of September Topic Education: Outcomes Periodicity Annual Aggregation method Weighted average Statistical concept and methodology Literacy statistics for most countries cover the population ages 15 and older, but some include younger ages or are confined to age ranges that tend to inflate literacy rates. The youth literacy rate for ages reflects recent progress in education. It measures the accumulated outcomes of primary education over the previous 10 years or so by indicating the proportion of the population who have passed through the primary education system and acquired basic literacy and numeracy skills.

Generally, literacy also encompasses numeracy, the ability to make simple arithmetic calculations. For detailed information, see www. Development relevance Literacy rate is an outcome indicator to evaluate educational attainment. This data can predict the quality of future labor force and can be used in ensuring policies for life skills for men and women. It can be also used as a proxy instrument to see the effectiveness of education system; a high literacy rate suggests the capacity of an education system to provide a large population with opportunities to acquire literacy skills.