Literacy rate, adult male (% of males ages 15 and above) - Country Ranking - Asia

Definition: 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.

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (http://uis.unesco.org/)

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Uzbekistan 100.00 2019
2 Dem. People's Rep. Korea 100.00 2008
3 Azerbaijan 99.87 2019
4 Armenia 99.84 2020
5 Kazakhstan 99.83 2018
6 Tajikistan 99.82 2014
7 Turkmenistan 99.75 2014
8 Russia 99.73 2018
9 Georgia 99.68 2019
10 Kyrgyz Republic 99.68 2018
11 Mongolia 99.12 2020
12 Turkey 99.08 2019
13 Singapore 98.90 2019
14 Saudi Arabia 98.62 2020
15 Jordan 98.61 2018
16 China 98.47 2018
17 Korea 98.32 2008
18 Macao SAR, China 98.19 2016
19 Brunei 98.05 2018
20 United Arab Emirates 98.02 2019
21 Indonesia 97.45 2020
22 Kuwait 97.05 2020
23 Vietnam 96.99 2019
24 Oman 96.99 2018
25 Lebanon 96.85 2018
26 Malaysia 96.22 2019
27 Philippines 95.71 2019
28 Thailand 95.20 2018
29 Israel 94.96 1983
30 Qatar 93.14 2017
31 Sri Lanka 93.03 2019
32 Myanmar 92.39 2019
33 Bahrain 92.15 2010
34 Iraq 91.20 2017
35 Iran 90.35 2016
36 Lao PDR 89.96 2015
37 Syrian Arab Republic 87.76 2004
38 Cambodia 86.53 2015
39 India 82.37 2018
40 Nepal 78.59 2018
41 Bangladesh 77.82 2020
42 Bhutan 75.02 2017
43 Yemen 73.16 2004
44 Timor-Leste 71.87 2018
45 Pakistan 69.29 2019
46 Afghanistan 52.06 2021

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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. The accumulated achievement of education is fundamental for further intellectual growth and social and economic development, although it doesn't necessarily ensure the quality of education. Literate women implies that they can seek and use information for the betterment of the health, nutrition and education of their household members. Literate women are also empowered to play a meaningful role.

Limitations and Exceptions: In practice, literacy is difficult to measure. Estimating literacy rates requires census or survey measurements under controlled conditions. Many countries report the number of literate people from self-reported data. Some use educational attainment data as a proxy but apply different lengths of school attendance or levels of completion. Ant there is a trend among recent national and international surveys toward using a direct reading test of literacy skills. Because definitions and methods of data collection differ across countries, data should be used cautiously.

Other Notes: Data retrieved via API in March 2019. For detailed information on the observation level (e.g. National Estimation, UIS Estimation, or Category not applicable), please visit UIS.Stat (http://data.uis.unesco.org/).

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 15-24 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. Data on literacy are compiled by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics based on national censuses and household surveys and, for countries without recent literacy data, using the Global Age-Specific Literacy Projection Model (GALP). For detailed information, see www.uis.unesco.org.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual