South Asia - Literacy rate, youth female (% of females ages 15-24)

Literacy rate, youth female (% of females ages 15-24) in South Asia was 88.94 as of 2020. Its highest value over the past 45 years was 88.94 in 2020, while its lowest value was 32.93 in 1976.

Definition: Youth literacy rate is the percentage of people ages 15-24 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:

Year Value
1975 32.95
1976 32.93
1977 34.00
1978 35.07
1979 36.13
1980 37.09
1981 37.84
1982 38.98
1983 40.05
1984 41.13
1985 42.22
1986 43.33
1987 44.38
1988 42.29
1989 43.97
1990 45.61
1991 46.89
1992 48.70
1993 50.22
1994 51.93
1995 53.59
1996 55.21
1997 56.62
1998 59.39
1999 61.29
2000 63.05
2001 64.53
2002 66.34
2003 67.63
2004 69.25
2005 69.40
2006 71.63
2007 72.31
2008 74.96
2009 76.45
2010 77.27
2011 78.58
2012 79.81
2013 81.47
2014 82.71
2015 84.16
2016 85.64
2017 86.31
2018 87.23
2019 88.13
2020 88.94

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

Classification

Topic: Education Indicators

Sub-Topic: Outcomes