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

Total number of females 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
36
Highest
99.7%
Azerbaijan
Lowest
15.9%
Burkina Faso
Median
85.3%
Years covered
44
1976–2019
Data points
331

What the numbers show

Adult literacy rate, population 15+ years, rural, female (%) is currently reported for 36 countries. The highest value is 99.7% in Azerbaijan; the lowest is 15.9% in Burkina Faso.

The median across all reporting countries is 85.3%, and the mean is 74.5%.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 6.

Over the past decade 33 countries rose and 3 fell. The largest increase was in Morocco (up 133.4%), and the largest decrease in South Africa (down 9.5%).

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

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Azerbaijan 99.7% 2017 up 0.7% flat
2 Moldova 99.0% 2014 up 2.3% flat
3 Uruguay 98.5% 2018 up 0.5% flat
4 Spain 97.3% 2018 up 1.8% flat
5 Kuwait 94.7% 2018 up 2.6% flat
6 Palestine 94.0% 2018 up 6.7% rising
7 Greece 92.5% 2011 up 4.2% rising
8 Chile 91.9% 2017 down 0.7% flat
9 Indonesia 90.9% 2018 up 7.0% rising
10 Sri Lanka 90.3% 2018 up 1.8% rising
11 Thailand 90.3% 2018 down 6.0% flat
12 Paraguay 89.7% 2018 up 3.0% flat
13 Colombia 89.4% 2018 up 4.6% rising
14 Malaysia 88.8% 2018 up 3.8% rising
15 Dominican Republic 88.4% 2016 up 9.2% rising
16 Mexico 88.0% 2018 up 9.2% rising
17 Ecuador 86.4% 2017 up 6.7% rising
18 Turkey 86.3% 2015 up 18.6% rising
19 Brazil 84.2% 2018 up 7.3% rising
20 Honduras 80.2% 2018 up 5.7% rising
21 El Salvador 79.2% 2017 up 16.5% rising
22 Peru 77.4% 2018 up 15.6% rising
23 South Africa 76.8% 2017 down 9.5% rising
24 Bolivia 75.0% 2015 up 6.2% rising
25 Cambodia 70.9% 2015 up 15.2% rising
26 Iran 66.5% 2016 up 5.7% rising
27 Guatemala 65.6% 2014 up 35.9% rising
28 Bangladesh 65.5% 2019 up 36.5% rising
29 Egypt 56.3% 2017 up 17.2% rising
30 Uganda 55.6% 2012 up 1.4% rising
31 Morocco 41.1% 2012 up 133.4% volatile
32 Mozambique 37.1% 2017 up 58.7% rising
33 Pakistan 33.9% 2017 up 30.5% rising
34 Senegal 30.1% 2017 up 65.2% rising
35 Mali 16.0% 2018 up 81.6% rising
36 Burkina Faso 15.9% 2014 up 122.1% volatile

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Adult literacy rate, population 15+ years, rural, female by country. Statizoid, drawing on UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 29 August 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/adult-literacy-rate-population-15-years-rural-female-percent/

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About this data

Indicator
Adult literacy rate, population 15+ years, rural, female (%)
Unit
%
Source
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
36 places, 331 data points, 1976–2019
Last refreshed

Total number of females 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/