* indicates monthly or quarterly data series

Literacy rate, 2020 - Country rankings:

The average for 2020 based on 28 countries was 89.34 percent.The highest value was in Kazakhstan: 99.8 percent and the lowest value was in Mali: 30.76 percent. The indicator is available from 1970 to 2021. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Measure: percent; Source: UNESCO
Select indicator
* indicates monthly or quarterly data series


Countries Literacy rate, 2020 Global rank Available data
Kazakhstan 99.8 1 1989 - 2020
Armenia 99.79 2 1989 - 2020
Russia 99.7 3 1989 - 2020
Mongolia 99.18 4 2000 - 2020
Spain 98.59 5 1981 - 2020
Aruba 97.99 6 2000 - 2020
Saudi Arabia 97.59 7 1992 - 2020
Palestine 97.51 8 1997 - 2020
China 97.15 9 1982 - 2020
Singapore 97.13 10 1980 - 2020
Kuwait 96.46 11 1975 - 2020
Seychelles 96.2 12 1987 - 2020
Indonesia 96 13 1980 - 2020
Colombia 95.64 14 1993 - 2020
Mexico 95.25 15 1980 - 2020
Paraguay 94.54 16 1982 - 2020
Peru 94.5 17 1981 - 2020
Bolivia 93.85 18 1976 - 2020
Ecuador 93.63 19 1982 - 2021
Sri Lanka 92.38 20 1981 - 2020
El Salvador 89.98 21 1992 - 2020
Swaziland 89.28 22 1976 - 2020
Zambia 87.5 23 1990 - 2020
Ghana 80.38 24 2000 - 2020
Cameroon 78.23 25 1976 - 2020
Bangladesh 74.91 26 1981 - 2020
C.A. Republic 37.49 27 1975 - 2020
Mali 30.76 28 1976 - 2020


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.
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