Arab World - Literacy rate, adult female (% of females ages 15 and above)

Literacy rate, adult female (% of females ages 15 and above) in Arab World was 66.20 as of 2020. Its highest value over the past 43 years was 68.65 in 2017, while its lowest value was 30.32 in 1977.

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:

Year Value
1977 30.32
1978 30.79
1979 31.33
1980 31.94
1981 32.60
1982 33.40
1983 33.86
1984 34.84
1985 35.72
1986 36.68
1987 37.53
1988 38.59
1989 39.63
1990 40.73
1991 41.94
1992 43.13
1993 43.42
1994 44.57
1995 45.68
1996 47.51
1997 48.45
1998 49.87
1999 51.21
2000 52.74
2001 53.82
2002 55.25
2003 57.61
2004 58.92
2005 58.81
2006 58.69
2007 59.11
2008 60.45
2009 58.97
2010 60.24
2011 62.44
2012 66.09
2013 65.24
2014 67.74
2015 65.57
2016 67.35
2017 68.65
2018 65.53
2019 65.86
2020 66.20

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