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

Total number of females in urban 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
39
Highest
99.7%
Azerbaijan
Lowest
49.5%
Senegal
Median
94.8%
Years covered
44
1976–2019
Data points
366

What the numbers show

Adult literacy rate, population 15+ years, urban, female (%) is currently reported for 39 countries. The highest value is 99.7% in Azerbaijan; the lowest is 49.5% in Senegal.

The median across all reporting countries is 94.8%, and the mean is 88.4%.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 2.

Over the past decade 33 countries rose and 6 fell. The largest increase was in Mali (up 36.7%), and the largest decrease in South Africa (down 4.7%).

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

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Azerbaijan 99.7% 2017 up 0.0% flat
2 Republic of Moldova 99.4% 2014 up 0.5% flat
3 Argentina 99.1% 2018 up 0.1% flat
4 Uruguay 99.0% 2018 up 0.5% flat
5 Spain 98.1% 2018 up 0.9% flat
6 Greece 97.7% 2011 up 1.8% rising
7 Chile 96.9% 2017 down 1.5% flat
8 Colombia 96.7% 2018 up 1.3% flat
9 Indonesia 96.5% 2018 up 3.4% flat
10 Mexico 96.4% 2018 up 2.3% rising
11 Ecuador 96.2% 2017 up 1.0% flat
12 Palestine, State of 96.1% 2018 up 4.4% rising
13 Singapore 95.9% 2018 up 2.3% flat
14 Paraguay 95.6% 2018 down 0.2% flat
15 Kuwait 95.2% 2018 up 3.7% rising
16 Dominican Republic 95.0% 2016 up 4.2% rising
17 Thailand 94.9% 2018 down 1.9% flat
18 Peru 94.9% 2018 up 2.8% flat
19 Malaysia 94.8% 2018 up 1.6% rising
20 Brazil 94.8% 2018 up 2.8% rising
21 Qatar 94.7% 2017 up 4.7% rising
22 Bolivia, Plurinational State of 94.2% 2015 up 0.9% rising
23 Türkiye 93.6% 2015 up 9.8% rising
24 Sri Lanka 93.1% 2018 up 1.4% flat
25 Honduras 92.2% 2018 up 1.5% flat
26 South Africa 91.3% 2017 down 4.7% flat
27 El Salvador 91.1% 2018 up 5.5% rising
28 Cambodia 87.5% 2015 up 13.8% rising
29 Iran 85.8% 2016 up 2.7% rising
30 Guatemala 85.7% 2014 up 10.3% rising
31 Bangladesh 79.7% 2019 up 19.7% rising
32 Uganda 79.6% 2012 down 4.5% rising
33 Egypt 77.1% 2017 up 16.5% rising
34 Mozambique 74.2% 2017 up 16.4% rising
35 Morocco 71.0% 2012 up 27.1% rising
36 Pakistan 68.1% 2017 up 11.7% rising
37 Burkina Faso 55.6% 2014 up 18.4% rising
38 Mali 50.5% 2018 up 36.7% rising
39 Senegal 49.5% 2017 down 2.9% flat

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Adult literacy rate, population 15+ years, urban, female by country. Statizoid, drawing on UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 30 August 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/adult-literacy-rate-population-15-years-urban-female-percent/

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About this data

Indicator
Adult literacy rate, population 15+ years, urban, female (%)
Unit
%
Source
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
39 places, 366 data points, 1976–2019
Last refreshed

Total number of females in urban 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/