Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.207.209.77 ( talk ) 21:22, 14 February 2013 (UTC) Generally, "literacy" also encompasses "numeracy", the ability to make simple arithmetic calculations. Based on the leadership principles of George Washington, we provide citizens, voters, and elected officials with the information, insights, and tools that amplify democracy in the modern age. Focusing on Russia, it is estimated that 53% of the population there receives some form of tertiary education. Literacy | UNESCO UIS Diarchy? Elderly: Percentage of the population aged 65 years and over who can both read and write, with understanding a short simple statement on their everyday life. Buringh, E., & Van Zanden, J. L. (2009). In addition, the gender gap in South Asia and West and Central Africa is pronounced these regions each has around 4 million more young women than young men who are illiterate. They use a demand equation that links book consumption to a number of factors, including literacy and book prices. The ten countries with the lowest literacy rates are: 1. Focusing on Russia, it is estimated that 53% of the population there receives some form of tertiary education. The expansion of literacy in early-industrialized countries helped reduce within-country inequalities. Still, many nations are struggling with the provision of educational resources to better their populaces, building the necessary infrastructure it requires and ensuring regular enrollment of students within their schools. The disparity is largest in, Findings in these countries show even greater differences in ICT skills across wealth quintiles. The literacy rate in Uruguay is 98.44%, ranking the country fifty-eighth in the world. All countries on this list have nationwide literacy rates above 99%, with Ukraine and Uzbekistan both clocking in at 100%. However, the education system in Italy has faced some challenges, including a shortage of teachers and a high dropout rate, which have affected education attainment. In this entry we discuss historical trends, as well as recent developments in literacy. Charting the Rise of the West: Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe, A long-term perspective from the sixth through eighteenth centuries. Chad 40.02%. Literacy skills of the majority of the population is a modern achievement as we show below. Lithuania has the tenth highest literacy rate in the world, with a literacy rate of 99.82%. Foundational reading skillsFoundationalreadingskills measure the minimum proficiency skills in reading expected in Grade 2/3. Over the past several decades, global literacy rates have significantly increased. When census data is not available, a common method used to estimate literacy is to calculate the share of people who could sign official documents (e.g. Finland has a highly developed education system and offers free education to all citizens. The literacy rate in Kenya is 78.02%, making it one of the countries with the lowest literacy rate in the world. The MICS6 Foundational Learning Skills module measures the learning outcomes at Grade 2 and 3 levels in numeracy and reading (SDG4.1.1.a). Chad has the tenth lowest literacy rate, with a literacy rate of 40.02%. The Central African Republic has the fifth lowest literacy rate in the world, with a literacy rate of 36.75%. In the preceding visualization we showed that England virtually closed literacy gender gaps by 1900. The literacy rate in Israel is 97.1%, making it one of the most literate countries. Mali ranks among the countries with the lowest literacy rates in the world, with only 33.07% of the population able to read and write. You have permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited. The ten countries with the highest literacy rates are: 1. * indicates "Literacy in COUNTRY or TERRITORY" or "Education in COUNTRY or TERRITORY" links. Direct country-to-country comparisons of literacy tend to be inexact. At the global level, the adult and youth literacy rates are estimated to have grown by only 4% The statistical data was analyzed based on a census by the UNESCO. All data on primary and secondary education used by UNICEF are based on official International Standard Classifications of Education (ISCED) and may deviate somewhat from those used by country-specific school systems. The government has made efforts to improve education, but progress has been slow. And in some countries the gaps are dramatic. The literacy rate in Japan is 99%, making it the forty-third country with the highest literacy rate in the world. For those who cannot, the options are extremely limitedeven unskilled minimum-wage jobs can be difficult to obtain. Economic growth is possible when we better understand how to produce the things we need, and translate these insights into technological improvements that allow us to produce them more efficiently. 1. According to UIS data, the majority of countries missed the Education for All (EFA) goal of reducing adult illiteracy rates by 50% between 2000 and 2015. For a full list of the best available information on literacy rates around the world, see the table below. First published in 2013; last revision September 20, 2018. Our more digitized and globalized world means that the future success of todays youth depends on their having ICT skills. Irish pupils among the best in the world for literacy. The youth literacy rate in Venezuela saw no significant changes in 2021 in comparison to the previous observation and remained at around 98.7 percent. Hence, despite variation on the types of questions and census instruments used, these historical census data remain the best source of data on literacy for the period prior 1990. 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 contrast, in Viet Nam, Belarus, and Turkmenistan, over 80 per cent of the children in the same age group have foundational reading skills. The literacy rate in India is 72.23%, making it one of the countries with the lowest literacy rate in the world. This collective effort has enabled Uruguay to reach high levels of literacy. Developed nations almost always have an adult literacy rate of 96% or better. Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above) - Least The data is taken from the UNESCO statistics. We use cookies. This has resulted in a steady increase in both male and female literacy rates. The UK has a strong public education system, and the government has invested heavily in education over the years. Mexico switches between self-reports and extrapolation). In all countries, a higher share of children from the top wealth quintile, foundational numeracy skills compared with children from the bottom wealth quintile, with a median gap of, percentage points. Global Literacy Rates and Data - UNICEF DATA South Sudan 31.98% 4. Foundationalreadingskills measure the minimum proficiency skills in reading expected in Grade 2/3. Literacy All: 100% Literacy Males: 100% Literacy Females: 100% Even more telling is that most countries base literacy for age 12+ however the statement is that the US literacy rate is based on people age 6 and over can read and write (2003 est.) * indicates "Literacy in COUNTRY or TERRITORY" or "Education in COUNTRY or TERRITORY" links. Foundational readingskills are divided into three categories: 1) wordrecognition (correctly reading 90 per cent of words in astory), 2) literal questions (replying correctly to all threeliteral questions), and 3) inferential (replying correctly tobothof two inferential questions). 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. The global literacy rate for all males is 90.0%, and the rate for all females is 82.7%. The country also provides free education to all students from preschool through university, and it has one of the highest levels of public spending on education in the world. You find more details about this in Chapter 6 of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report (2006). The scatter plot emphasises the point already made. In Ireland, almost 4,700 students in 148 . There are also several countries with a literacy rate of 100%, including Andorra, Finland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, North Korea, Norway, and Uzbekistan. The next chart shows this by plotting changes in literacy rates and average years of schooling. Self-reports are subjective, in that the question is dependent on what each individual understands by reading and writing. Literacy Rate by Country. A literacy rate that hovers around 100% is seen in quite a few other countries of the world, including Azerbaijan and Cuba. What country has a 100 literacy rate? Princeton University Press. Particularly fast improvements in literacy took place across Northwest Europe in the period 1600-1800. Adult literacy rate of China increased from 65.5 % in 1982 to 96.8 % in 2018 growing at an average . Foundational readingskills are divided into three categories: 1) wordrecognition (correctly reading 90 per cent of words in astory), 2) literal questions (replying correctly to all threeliteral questions), and 3) inferential (replying correctly tobothof two inferential questions). The global literacy rate for all males is 90.0%, and the rate for all females is 82.7%. The country has a strong emphasis on early childhood education and its education system focuses on equal opportunities for all students, which has contributed to its high literacy rate. Compared to the data on literacy we have less information on numeracy skills in the world today. Countries which were closed communist regimes such as Ceauescu's Romania and Hoxha's Albania show elderly literacy rates well under 100.0%. Andorra is one such country with virtually 100% of its populace being literate. The literacy rate in France is 99%, making it the thirty-ninth country with the highest literacy rate in the world. The poorest countries in the world, where basic education is most likely to be a binding constraint for development, still have very large segments of the population who are illiterate. Burkina Faso has the sixth lowest literacy rate globally, with a literacy rate of 37.75%. Guinea 30.47% 3. Enter your email below, and you'll receive this table's data in your inbox momentarily. This is how much the global literacy rate grew over 200 years Indeed, the Chinese government has heavily invested in education over recent years, leading to massive growth in enrollment figures for primary and secondary schools across the country. Despite significant progress in recent years, the country still struggles with providing quality education, especially in rural areas. Both the development of new technologies (innovation) and their use in production relied on a much better-educated population. This chart shows historical estimates of literacy in England over the last five centuries. As the center of the Industrial Revolution and one of the first countries that established democratic institutions, England was in important aspects the center of the development of modernity. Countries such as Georgia, Tajikistan, Russia, Poland, and Slovenia have also all achieved literacy rates on or near 100%. Adult literacy rate Search glossaries Source: The State of the World's Children . You can read more about the expansion of education systems around the world in our entry on Financing Education. The visualization shows how this basic ability became more common in populations around the world based on a very basic definition of numeracy, the ability to correctly state ones own age. Education is highly valued in Norway, and the government invests heavily in education. The education system focuses on providing quality education and promoting equal opportunities for all students. This indirect reporting potentially introduces further noise, in particular when it comes to estimating literacy among women and children, since these groups are less often considered head of household in the surveys. Finland has the second highest literacy rate globally, with a literacy rate of 100%. Education is highly valued in Ukraine, and the country offers free education to all citizens. Globally, the youth literacy rate increased from 87 per cent in 2000 to 92 per cent in 2020. Besides overall performance, the magnitude of the gender gap also varies across countries. The country with the highest literacy rate in the world is Andorra with a literacy rate of 100%. Countries with high literacy rates also tend to have higher results in the basic literacy tests included in the DHS surveys (this is a . The Mass Media and ICT modules in MICS6 provide information on mens and womens use of ICT skills in nine activities ranging from copying or moving a folder to writing a computer program. The literacy rate in Zimbabwe is 86.87%, making it one of the countries with the lowest literacy rate in the world. The literacy rate in Italy is 99.02%, making it the thirty-third country with the highest literacy rate in the world. Country. A GPI value between 0.97 and 1.03 is usually interpreted to indicate gender parity. 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. Education is highly valued in Germany, and the country offers free education to all citizens. The literacy rate in Australia is 99%, making it the thirty-fourth country with the highest literacy rate in the world. Talk:List of countries by literacy rate - Wikipedia Widespread school education and even basic skills like literacy are a very recent achievement that was enabled and at the same time required by the progress achieved in recent generations. Most Recent Year. It also puts a strain on the country's economy, as those without an education are less likely to participate in productive economic activity. Additionally, their education systems are designed to cater to the needs of all individuals, regardless of their socioeconomic background or gender, which helps to ensure that everyone receives an equal opportunity to learn and become literate. This rate is lower than the global average of 86% and indicates that there is a large portion of the population without access to basic education. Adult literacy rate is the percentage of people ages 15 and above who can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement about their everyday life. Similarly, countries in the Asia-Pacific region also have high literacy rates, with several countries achieving 99% or more. Overall, most countries have high literacy rates, with the majority of them above 95%. The literacy rate in Sweden is 99%, reflecting the country's commitment to providing access to education for all its citizens. This interactive map shows how the literacy rates varies between countries around the world. One country on this list that's worth touching on is Cuba. Poverty and illiteracy tend to go hand-in-hand. The education system focuses on providing quality education and promoting equal opportunities for all students. Education is highly valued in Japan, and the country offers free education to all citizens. For the period before 1950, the underlying source is the UNESCO report on the Progress of Literacy in Various Countries Since 1900 (about 30 countries). For example, researchers Eltjo Buringh and Jan Luiten van Zanden deduce literacy rates from estimated per capita book consumption. Data further show significant variations across countries: in Malawi and Bangladesh, less than 3 per cent of young women aged 15 to 24 performed any ICT-related activity. Help us improve this site Help / Feedback. As we can see in the chart, there is obviously noise, but these two variables are closely related. List of Countries by Literacy Rate (2023) - Country Cassette List of Countries by Literacy Rate (2023) List of Countries by Literacy Rate Literacy is an essential component of human development, as it enables individuals to access and comprehend written information, communicate effectively, and participate in their communities. This is primarily due to poverty, lack of access to education, and cultural norms that prioritize traditional practices over formal education. The literacy rate in Canada also has a literacy rate of 99%, making it the thirty-sixth country with the highest literacy rate in the world. Global literacy. Generally, 'literacy' also encompasses 'numeracy', the ability to make simple arithmetic calculations. Receive the latest updates from the UNICEF Data team. If the child succeeds in all four tasks, s/he is considered to have foundational numeracy skills. The Economic History Review, 56(3), 403-443. [1] Over 75% of the world's 781 million illiterate adults are found in South Asia, West Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, and women represent almost two-thirds of all illiterate adults globally. The country has a strong education system that prioritizes providing access to quality education to all students. A recent UNICEF report using MICS6 data confirms that the learning crisis is real for most children, in which few children from disadvantage or marginalized groups have foundational learning skills. It is also worth noting that European countries dominate the top of the list, with many of them having a literacy rate of 99% or above. Countries with high literacy rates also tend to have higher results in the basic literacy tests included in the DHS surveys (this is a test that requires survey respondents to read a sentence showed to them). Although the gender gap between males and females narrowed, young women still have a literacy rate 2 percentage points lower than young men. Education is often less available in poverty-stricken areas. Youth literacy rate in Venezuela 2021 | Statista Education attainment in France is also high, with a large proportion of the population having completed some form of tertiary education. The divide in ICT skills is even wider for young men from the richest and poorest quintiles, with a median gap of 38 percentage points. Education is highly valued in France, and the country offers free education to all citizens. The literacy rate of a country is the percentage of people aged 15 or above who can read and write. As it can be seen, the rising levels of education in Europe foreshadowed the emergence of modern societies. The seven countries that have achieved the highest literacy rate in the world, 100%, are Andorra, Finland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, North Korea, Norway, and Uzbekistan. China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China, Macao Special Administrative Region, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Last update: June 2022 | Next update: June 2023, Compared to the gender gap, differences in foundational numeracy skills by wealth are more evident. [1] This site uses cookies to optimize functionality and give you the best possible experience. The low literacy rate in Niger has significant social and economic consequences, as it limits individuals ability to access better-paying jobs, participate fully in society, and make informed decisions about their health and well-being. While it is women who are often left out of this elementary part of education. The global literacy rate for all people aged 15 and above is 86.3%. Education attainment in Japan is also high, with a large proportion of the population having completed some form of tertiary education. Help us do this work by making a donation. These countries have put in place comprehensive education systems that ensure that every citizen is literate. Information communication technology skills, Are Children Really Learning? This means that a large portion of the population lacks the basic skills to engage in meaningful economic activity. Education attainment in Australia is also high, with a large proportion of the population having completed some form of tertiary education. The country faces significant challenges in providing quality education to its citizens, including poverty, inequality, and inadequate educational infrastructure. Estonia 99.82% 10. You can see that throughout Africa the changes have been mainly horizontal (i.e. Today, in contrast, the global estimates of literacy and school attendance are above 80%, and the inequality between world regions while still existing is much lower. Israel has a highly developed education system with a large number of universities and technical colleges, which has contributed to its high literacy rate. Finland - 100% Norway - 100% Luxembourg - 100% Andorra - 100% Greenland - 100% Liechtenstein - 100% Uzbekistan - 100% Latvia - 99.89% Estonia - 99.82% Lithuania - 99.82% It's worth noting that the top ten countries on this list are all former Soviet Union republics. What country has the highest illiteracy rate in the world? This is a powerful graph: it tells us that over the last two centuries the share of illiterate adults has gone down from 88% to less than 14%. The government has implemented policies to improve education.The literacy rate in Brazil is 92.59%, making it one of the countries with the lowest literacy rate in the world. The developed nations of the world have much higher literacy rates with smaller gapsif anybetween the genders. Literacy rate, 2020 - Country rankings: The average for 2020 based on 28 countries was 89.34 percent.The highest value was in Kazakhstan: 99.8 percent and the lowest value was in Mali: 30.76 percent. 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. Turning towards countries like Slovakia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, they remain in the range near 100%. The government has implemented policies to improve education. East Asia and the pacific have the words highest literacy rate (95.7%) compared to sub-Saharan Africa who has the lowest rate (65.47%). If the child succeedsin all three tasks, s/he is considered to have foundationalreading skills. And up to 1970, the source is UNESCO statistical yearbooks. Charting the Rise of the West: Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe, a long-term Perspective from the Sixth through Eighteenth Centuries. Each task is composed of several questions and the child must correctly answer all questions to successfully complete the task. Similarly, when writing out ones name to convey written ability, this can be accomplished by drawing a familiar shape rather than writing in an effort to produce a written text with meaning. The government also invests heavily in school infrastructure, raising standards for both primary and secondary-level education. We will always indicate the original source of the data in our documentation, so you should always check the license of any such third-party data before use and redistribution. Indeed, other methods have been proposed, in order to rely on historical estimates of people who could read. As we can see, in order to reach near universal levels of literacy, the US had to close the race gap. Estonia has the ninth highest literacy rate, with a literacy rate of 99.82%. cent for adults. The share of population that can both read and write a short, simple statement about their everyday life. Andorra has the highest literacy rate in the world, with a literacy rate of 100%. (As we mention above, before 1990 almost all observations correspond to census data.). In the 35 countries and territories with available data, there are considerable disparities in the proportion of children equipped with foundational reading and numeracy skills. They have invested heavily in education and have made it a priority in their national development plans. According to the OECD report How Was Life? The scatter plot shows how adults in OECD countries scored in the literacy and numeracy dimension. The literacy rate for all males and females that are at least 15 years old is 86.3%.