Middle income - Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above)

Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above) in Middle income was 86.67 as of 2020. Its highest value over the past 45 years was 86.67 in 2020, while its lowest value was 60.18 in 1975.

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
1975 60.18
1976 60.28
1977 60.57
1978 61.27
1979 61.93
1980 62.38
1981 63.14
1982 63.87
1983 64.65
1984 65.40
1985 66.08
1986 66.71
1987 67.50
1988 69.70
1989 70.29
1990 70.59
1991 71.36
1992 72.05
1993 72.64
1994 73.20
1995 73.75
1996 74.30
1997 76.99
1998 78.57
1999 78.99
2000 79.18
2001 79.56
2002 80.02
2003 80.70
2004 81.16
2005 81.16
2006 81.62
2007 81.95
2008 82.57
2009 82.97
2010 83.53
2011 83.70
2012 84.27
2013 84.48
2014 85.00
2015 85.22
2016 85.78
2017 86.05
2018 86.09
2019 86.40
2020 86.67

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