World - Literacy rate, adult male (% of males ages 15 and above)

Literacy rate, adult male (% of males ages 15 and above) in World was 90.06 as of 2020. Its highest value over the past 44 years was 90.06 in 2020, while its lowest value was 75.50 in 1976.

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
1976 75.50
1977 75.68
1978 76.06
1979 76.41
1980 76.62
1981 77.01
1982 77.46
1983 77.85
1984 78.25
1985 78.60
1986 78.94
1987 79.43
1988 80.78
1989 81.10
1990 81.19
1991 81.58
1992 82.02
1993 82.40
1994 82.71
1995 83.00
1996 83.29
1997 84.52
1998 85.73
1999 85.97
2000 86.06
2001 86.24
2002 86.61
2003 87.07
2004 87.42
2005 87.40
2006 87.46
2007 87.55
2008 88.01
2009 88.19
2010 88.25
2011 88.37
2012 88.78
2013 88.93
2014 89.21
2015 89.33
2016 89.68
2017 89.80
2018 89.78
2019 89.93
2020 90.06

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