South Asia - Literacy rate, youth male (% of males ages 15-24)

Literacy rate, youth male (% of males ages 15-24) in South Asia was 91.98 as of 2020. Its highest value over the past 45 years was 91.98 in 2020, while its lowest value was 61.52 in 1976.

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 61.56
1976 61.52
1977 61.91
1978 62.19
1979 62.37
1980 62.44
1981 62.41
1982 62.55
1983 62.67
1984 62.76
1985 62.90
1986 63.09
1987 63.36
1988 66.46
1989 67.38
1990 68.19
1991 68.93
1992 70.39
1993 71.82
1994 72.57
1995 73.30
1996 74.03
1997 74.71
1998 78.99
1999 79.64
2000 80.18
2001 80.63
2002 81.12
2003 82.18
2004 82.61
2005 84.36
2006 85.23
2007 83.67
2008 86.50
2009 87.00
2010 86.71
2011 86.97
2012 87.58
2013 88.55
2014 88.98
2015 89.51
2016 90.30
2017 90.75
2018 91.12
2019 91.61
2020 91.98

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