IBRD only - Literacy rate, youth total (% of people ages 15-24)

Literacy rate, youth total (% of people ages 15-24) in IBRD only was 96.27 as of 2020. Its highest value over the past 45 years was 96.27 in 2020, while its lowest value was 76.52 in 1975.

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 76.52
1976 76.59
1977 76.87
1978 77.65
1979 78.42
1980 79.14
1981 79.79
1982 80.55
1983 81.09
1984 81.75
1985 82.32
1986 82.85
1987 83.70
1988 84.42
1989 84.86
1990 85.33
1991 85.74
1992 86.18
1993 86.47
1994 86.84
1995 87.24
1996 87.61
1997 88.79
1998 89.75
1999 90.06
2000 90.40
2001 90.77
2002 91.20
2003 91.75
2004 92.15
2005 92.51
2006 92.70
2007 93.35
2008 93.88
2009 93.97
2010 93.96
2011 94.23
2012 94.84
2013 95.10
2014 95.48
2015 95.41
2016 95.86
2017 96.06
2018 95.87
2019 96.08
2020 96.27

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