Arab World - Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above)

Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above) in Arab World was 73.37 as of 2020. Its highest value over the past 43 years was 75.77 in 2017, while its lowest value was 44.90 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 44.90
1978 45.27
1979 45.69
1980 46.20
1981 46.77
1982 47.42
1983 47.63
1984 48.47
1985 49.33
1986 50.30
1987 50.89
1988 51.88
1989 52.78
1990 53.75
1991 54.86
1992 55.80
1993 56.52
1994 57.35
1995 58.34
1996 59.81
1997 60.54
1998 61.72
1999 62.76
2000 63.68
2001 64.88
2002 66.05
2003 68.69
2004 69.64
2005 69.22
2006 68.14
2007 68.62
2008 69.62
2009 68.31
2010 69.25
2011 71.06
2012 74.44
2013 74.04
2014 75.71
2015 73.50
2016 74.84
2017 75.77
2018 72.87
2019 73.11
2020 73.37

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