Literacy rate, youth total (% of people ages 15-24) - Country Ranking - Asia

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: 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 Korea 99.95 2008
4 Azerbaijan 99.93 2019
5 Singapore 99.93 2019
6 Turkey 99.91 2019
7 Tajikistan 99.90 2014
8 Kazakhstan 99.90 2018
9 Armenia 99.87 2020
10 Turkmenistan 99.80 2014
11 Macao SAR, China 99.80 2016
12 China 99.78 2018
13 Indonesia 99.78 2020
14 Lebanon 99.75 2018
15 Kyrgyz Republic 99.75 2018
16 Brunei 99.71 2018
17 Georgia 99.70 2019
18 Russia 99.70 2018
19 Saudi Arabia 99.50 2020
20 Jordan 99.34 2018
21 Kuwait 99.30 2020
22 Mongolia 99.07 2020
23 Sri Lanka 98.97 2019
24 Vietnam 98.63 2019
25 Oman 98.62 2018
26 Israel 98.56 1983
27 Philippines 98.38 2019
28 United Arab Emirates 98.16 2019
29 Thailand 98.14 2018
30 Iran 98.10 2016
31 Malaysia 96.78 2019
32 Bahrain 95.45 2010
33 Myanmar 95.42 2019
34 Qatar 94.64 2017
35 Bangladesh 94.46 2020
36 Iraq 93.50 2017
37 Bhutan 93.09 2017
38 Lao PDR 92.46 2015
39 Syrian Arab Republic 92.45 2004
40 Nepal 92.39 2018
41 Cambodia 92.21 2015
42 India 91.66 2018
43 Timor-Leste 83.54 2018
44 Yemen 77.00 2004
45 Pakistan 72.70 2019
46 Afghanistan 55.93 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