List of countries by literacy rate

World map indicating literacy by country (2007/2008 Human Development Report) Grey = no data

World map indicating Education Index by country (2007/2008 Human Development Report)

List of countries by literacy rate, as included in the United Nations Development Programme Report 2009.^[1][2]

Adult literacy rate.

This Report uses data on adult literacy rates from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics (UIS) April 2007 Assessment (UNESCO Institute for Statistics 2007a), that combines direct national estimates with recent estimates based on its Global age-specific literacy projections model developed in 2007. The national estimates, made available through targeted efforts by UIS to collect recent literacy data from countries, are obtained from national censuses or surveys between 1995 and 2005. Where recent estimates are not available, older UIS estimates, produced in July 2002 and based mainly on national data collected before 1995, have been used instead.

Many high-income countries, having attained high levels of literacy, no longer collect basic literacy statistics and thus are not included in the UIS data. In calculating the Human Development Index (HDI), a literacy rate of 99.0% is assumed for high-income countries that do not report adult literacy information.

In collecting literacy data, many countries estimate the number of literate people based on self-reported data. Some use educational attainment data as a proxy, but measures of school attendance or grade completion may differ. Because definitions and data collection methods vary across countries, literacy estimates should

be used with caution.

— United Nations Development Programme Report 2009.^[3][4] page 171

Rank	Country	Literacy rate [b]
1	Georgia	100.0
2	Cuba	99.8
2	Estonia	99.8
2	Latvia	99.8
5	Barbados	99.7 [j]
5	Slovenia	99.7 [l]
5	Belarus	99.7
5	Lithuania	99.7
5	Ukraine	99.7
5	Armenia	99.7
10	Kazakhstan	99.6
10	Tajikistan	99.6
12	Azerbaijan	99.5
12	Turkmenistan	99.5
12	Russia	99.5
16	Hungary	99.4 [j]
17	Kyrgyzstan	99.3
17	Poland	99.3 [j]
19	Moldova	99.2 [l]
19	Tonga	99.2
21	Albania	99.0
21	Antigua and Barbuda	99.0 [q]
21	Australia	99.0 [d]
21	Austria	99.0 [d]
21	Belgium	99.0 [d]
21	Canada	99.0 [d]
21	Czech Republic	99.0 [d]
21	North Korea	99.0 [d]
21	Denmark	99.0 [d]
21	Finland	99.0 [d]
21	France	99.0 [d]
21	Germany	99.0 [d]
21	Guyana	99.0 [j]
21	Iceland	99.0 [d]
21	Ireland	99.0 [d]
21	Japan	99.0 [d]
21	South Korea	99.0 [d]
21	Luxembourg	99.0 [d]
21	Netherlands	99.0 [d]
21	New Zealand	99.0 [d]
21	Norway	99.0 [d]
21	Slovakia	99.0 [d]
21	Sweden	99.0 [d]
21	Switzerland	99.0 [d]
21	United Kingdom	99.0 [d]
21	United States See also: Literacy in the United States	99.0 [d]
47	Italy	98.9
48	Samoa	98.7 [l]
48	Trinidad and Tobago	98.7 [l]
48	Croatia	98.7
51	Bulgaria	98.3
52	Spain	97.9 [d]
52	Uruguay	97.9
54	Saint Kitts and Nevis	97.8 [k]
55	Cyprus	97.7
56	Romania	97.6
56	Argentina	97.6
58	Mongolia	97.3
59	Israel	97.1 [k]
59	Greece	97.1
61	Maldives	97.0
61	Macedonia	97.0
63	Uzbekistan	96.9 [j]
64	Bosnia and Herzegovina	96.7
65	Chile	96.5
66	Serbia	96.4
67	Grenada	96.0 [q]
68	Costa Rica	95.9
69	Bahamas	95.8 [j]
70	Venezuela	95.2
71	Brunei Darussalam	94.9
71	Portugal	94.9 [l]
73	Saint Lucia	94.8 [q]
74	Hong Kong	94.6 [j]
74	Paraguay	94.6 [l]
76	Kuwait	94.5
77	Singapore	94.4
77	Fiji	94.4 [j]
79	Thailand	94.1
80	Palestinian Authority	93.8
81	Panama	93.4
81	Philippines	93.4
83	China	93.3
84	Qatar	93.1
85	Mexico	92.8
86	Colombia	92.7
87	Malta	92.4
88	Indonesia	92.0
89	Malaysia	91.9
90	Seychelles	91.8
91	Zimbabwe	91.2 [l]
92	Jordan	91.1
93	Ecuador	91.0
94	Sri Lanka	90.8 [w]
95	Bolivia	90.7
96	Suriname	90.4
97	Vietnam	90.3
98	United Arab Emirates	90.0 [l]
98	Brazil	90.0
100	Myanmar	89.9
101	Peru	89.6
101	Lebanon	89.6 [j]
103	Dominican Republic	89.1
104	Bahrain	88.8
105	Turkey	88.7
106	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	88.1 [q]
107	Dominica	88.0 [q]
107	Namibia	88.0
107	South Africa	88.0
110	Sao Tome and Principe	87.9
111	Mauritius	87.4
112	Equatorial Guinea	87.0
113	Libya	86.8 [l]
114	Gabon	86.2 [l]
115	Jamaica	86.0
116	Saudi Arabia	85.0
117	Cape Verde	83.8 [l]
118	Honduras	83.6
119	Syria	83.1
120	Botswana	82.9
121	Iran	82.3
122	Lesotho	82.2
123	El Salvador	82.0 [l]
124	Oman	81.4
125	Republic of the Congo	81.1 [l]
126	Swaziland	79.6
127	Vanuatu	78.1
128	Tunisia	77.7
129	Nicaragua	78.0
130	Solomon Islands	76.6 [k]
131	Cambodia	76.3
132	Algeria	75.4
133	Belize	75.1 [q]
133	Comoros	75.1 [j]
135	Kenya	73.6
135	Uganda	73.6
137	Guatemala	73.2
138	Tanzania	72.3
139	Nigeria	72.0 [l]
140	Malawi	71.8
141	Madagascar	70.7
142	Zambia	70.6
143	Djibouti	70.3 [j]
144	Laos	68.7
145	Cameroon	67.9
146	Angola	67.4
147	Democratic Republic of the Congo	67.2
148	Egypt	66.4
149	India	66.0
150	Ghana	65.0
151	Rwanda	64.9
152	Guinea-Bissau	64.6 [j]
153	Eritrea	64.2 [j]
155	Haiti	62.1 [j]
156	Sudan	60.9 [aa]
157	Burundi	59.3
158	Yemen	58.9 [l]
159	Papua New Guinea	57.8
160	Nepal	56.5
161	Mauritania	55.8
162	Morocco	55.6
163	Pakistan	54.2
164	Bangladesh	53.5
165	Togo	53.2
166	Bhutan	52.8 [v]
167	Timor-Leste	50.1 [ab]
168	Côte d'Ivoire	48.7
169	Central African Republic	48.6
170	Mozambique	44.4
171	Gambia	42.5 [j]
172	Senegal	41.9
173	Benin	40.5
174	Sierra Leone	38.1
175	Ethiopia	35.9
176	Chad	31.8
177	Guinea	29.5
178	Burkina Faso	28.7
178	Template:Country data Niggers	28.7
180	Mali	26.2

Notes

• ^ United Nations Development Program UNDP.org Table H.
• ^ Tables in spreadsheet format can be found UNDP.org
• ^b 0 Data refer to national literacy estimates from censuses or surveys conducted between 1995 and 2005, unless otherwise specified. Due to differences in methodology and timeliness of underlying data, comparisons across countries and over time should be made with caution. For more details, see Unesco.org.
• ^d 1 For purposes of calculating the HDI, a value of 99.0% was applied.
• ^v 2 UNICEF 2004.
• ^l 3 UNESCO Institute for Statistics estimates based on its Global Age-specific Literacy Projections model, April 2007.
• ^j 4 In the absence of recent data, estimates from UNESCO Institute for Statistics 2003, based on outdated census or survey information, were used and should be interpreted with caution: Bahamas 95.8, Barbados 90.7, Comoros 56.8, Djibouti 70.3, Eritrea 60.5, Fiji 94.4, Gambia 42.5, Guinea-Bissau 11.00, Guyana 99.0, Haiti 54.8, Hong Kong, China (SAR) 94.6, Hungary 99.4, Lebanon 88.3, Poland 99.8 and Uzbekistan 80.4. Note that the 1991 census in Comoros indicates a literacy rate of 91% for the three independent islands.
• ^k 5 Data are from national sources.
• ^q 6 Data are from the Secretariat of the Caribbean Community, based on national sources.
• ^w 7 Data refer to 18 of 25 districts of the country only.
• ^aa 8 Data refer to North Sudan only.
• ^ab 9 UNDP 2007.
• The Holy See (Vatican City) not listed

See also

• International Literacy Day
• Literacy