Statizoid

Adult literacy rate, population 15+ years, rural, both sexes (%) by country

Total number of adults in rural areas over age 15 who cannot both read and write with understanding a short simple statement on their everyday life. For more information, consult the UNESCO Institute of Statistics website: http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/

Countries reporting
38
Highest
100.0%
Uzbekistan
Lowest
23.4%
Burkina Faso
Median
85.9%
Years covered
44
1976–2019
Data points
341

What the numbers show

Adult literacy rate, population 15+ years, rural, both sexes (%) is currently reported for 38 countries. The highest value is 100.0% in Uzbekistan; the lowest is 23.4% in Burkina Faso.

The median across all reporting countries is 85.9%, and the mean is 78.8%.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 4.

Over the past decade 34 countries rose and 4 fell. The largest increase was in Burkina Faso (up 87.3%), and the largest decrease in South Africa (down 10.5%).

Adult literacy rate, population 15+ years, rural, both sexes: full country ranking

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Uzbekistan 100.0% 2018 down 0.0% flat
2 Azerbaijan 99.8% 2017 up 0.5% flat
3 Republic of Moldova 99.3% 2014 up 1.6% flat
4 Spain 97.9% 2018 up 1.4% flat
5 Uruguay 97.8% 2018 up 0.7% rising
6 Palestine, State of 96.3% 2018 up 4.1% rising
7 Kuwait 95.7% 2018 up 2.2% flat
8 Greece 94.9% 2011 up 2.3% rising
9 Indonesia 93.3% 2018 up 4.8% rising
10 Thailand 92.0% 2018 down 4.4% flat
11 Türkiye 91.8% 2015 up 10.5% rising
12 Chile 91.7% 2017 down 1.8% flat
13 Malaysia 91.3% 2018 up 2.5% rising
14 Sri Lanka 91.2% 2018 up 1.1% rising
15 Paraguay 90.6% 2018 up 2.5% flat
16 Mexico 89.3% 2018 up 7.0% rising
17 Colombia 88.6% 2018 up 4.2% rising
18 Dominican Republic 88.1% 2016 up 9.8% rising
19 Ecuador 86.3% 2017 up 3.1% rising
20 Peru 85.5% 2018 up 9.6% rising
21 Bolivia, Plurinational State of 83.6% 2015 up 4.6% rising
22 Brazil 82.5% 2018 up 7.9% rising
23 El Salvador 81.7% 2017 up 15.6% rising
24 Honduras 79.8% 2018 up 5.1% rising
25 South Africa 77.6% 2017 down 10.5% rising
26 Cambodia 77.0% 2015 up 7.5% rising
27 Iran, Islamic Republic of 73.9% 2016 up 4.9% rising
28 Guatemala 72.1% 2014 up 28.8% rising
29 Bangladesh 68.4% 2019 up 32.4% rising
30 Uganda 65.4% 2012 up 0.8% rising
31 Tunisia 64.4% 2014 up 1.3% flat
32 Egypt 64.0% 2017 up 1.9% rising
33 Morocco 55.1% 2012 up 69.7% rising
34 Mozambique 48.9% 2017 up 24.6% rising
35 Pakistan 48.5% 2017 up 16.9% rising
36 Senegal 42.7% 2017 up 61.8% rising
37 Mali 25.6% 2018 up 67.9% rising
38 Burkina Faso 23.4% 2014 up 87.3% rising

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Adult literacy rate, population 15+ years, rural, both sexes by country. Statizoid, drawing on UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 02 September 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/adult-literacy-rate-population-15-years-rural-both-sexes-percent/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/adult-literacy-rate-population-15-years-rural-both-sexes-percent/">Adult literacy rate, population 15+ years, rural, both sexes by country</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Adult literacy rate, population 15+ years, rural, both sexes (%)
Unit
%
Source
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
38 places, 341 data points, 1976–2019
Last refreshed

Total number of adults in rural areas over age 15 who cannot both read and write with understanding a short simple statement on their everyday life. For more information, consult the UNESCO Institute of Statistics website: http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/