The global adult literacy rate, for the population 15 years and older, was 83.7% in 2009, compared to 83.4% in 2008. The adult illiterate population fell from 796.2 million in 2008 to 793.1 million in 2009. 64.1% of the adult illiterate population were women. Adult literacy rates are lowest in sub-Saharan African and in South and West Asia (see Figure 1). In 11 countries, less than half of the adult population were able to read and write: Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Haiti, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
Figure 1: Adult literacy rate, 2009
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2011
Youth literacy rates - for the population 15 to 24 years - are generally higher than adult literacy rates, due to increased school attendance rates among younger generations. The global youth literacy rate was 89.3% in 2009, compared to 89.0% in 2008. The youth illiterate population fell from 130.6 million in 2008 to 127.3 million in 2009. Youth literacy rates are lowest in sub-Saharan Africa (see Figure 2) and the five countries worldwide with youth literacy rates below 50% are from this region: Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Mali and Niger.
Figure 2: Youth literacy rate, 2009
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2011
Reference
- UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 2011. Adult and youth literacy. UIS fact sheet no. 16, September. Montreal: UIS. (Download in PDF format, 350 KB)
- Trends in adult literacy, 1990-2008
- Literacy data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics
- Adult literacy in 2007
- Disparity between male and female literacy rates
- Disparity between adult and youth literacy
- Adult literacy in Sub-Saharan Africa
Friedrich Huebler, 30 September 2011, Creative Commons License
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