Elderly literacy rate, population 65+ years, urban, female (%) by country
Percentage of females age 65 and above in urban areas who can, with understanding, read and write a short, simple statement on their everyday life. Generally, ‘literacy’ also encompasses ‘numeracy’, the ability to make simple arithmetic calculations. This indicator is calculated by dividing the number of female...
What the numbers show
Elderly literacy rate, population 65+ years, urban, female (%) is currently reported for 38 countries. The highest value is 98.2% in Uruguay; the lowest is 7.7% in Burkina Faso.
The median across all reporting countries is 71.1%, and the mean is 65.1%.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 13.
Over the past decade 33 countries rose and 5 fell. The largest increase was in Morocco (up 370.1%), and the largest decrease in Uganda (down 15.5%).
Elderly literacy rate, population 65+ years, urban, female: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uruguay | 98.2% | 2018 | up 1.8% | rising |
| 2 | Moldova, Republic of | 98.0% | 2014 | up 6.0% | rising |
| 3 | Azerbaijan, Republic of | 97.9% | 2017 | up 1.4% | rising |
| 4 | Argentina | 97.2% | 2018 | down 0.2% | rising |
| 5 | Spain | 94.2% | 2018 | up 3.9% | flat |
| 6 | Greece | 92.9% | 2011 | up 8.1% | rising |
| 7 | Chile | 92.0% | 2017 | up 0.4% | flat |
| 8 | Colombia | 86.9% | 2018 | up 7.7% | rising |
| 9 | Mexico | 83.7% | 2018 | up 10.9% | rising |
| 10 | Sri Lanka | 83.7% | 2018 | up 5.0% | rising |
| 11 | Ecuador | 82.7% | 2017 | up 3.6% | rising |
| 12 | Brazil | 81.2% | 2018 | up 13.0% | rising |
| 13 | Dominican Republic | 80.1% | 2016 | up 13.4% | rising |
| 14 | Thailand | 79.7% | 2015 | up 6.5% | rising |
| 15 | Singapore | 78.9% | 2018 | up 23.9% | rising |
| 16 | Peru | 78.4% | 2018 | up 13.1% | rising |
| 17 | Paraguay | 75.6% | 2018 | down 9.8% | flat |
| 18 | Indonesia | 74.3% | 2018 | up 36.0% | rising |
| 19 | El Salvador | 71.4% | 2018 | up 34.0% | rising |
| 20 | Malaysia | 70.8% | 2018 | up 36.7% | rising |
| 21 | Bolivia | 70.3% | 2015 | up 10.4% | rising |
| 22 | South Africa | 70.2% | 2017 | down 13.5% | rising |
| 23 | Honduras | 69.8% | 2018 | up 10.7% | rising |
| 24 | Türkiye | 69.4% | 2015 | up 50.8% | rising |
| 25 | Palestine, State of | 59.6% | 2018 | up 71.9% | rising |
| 26 | Guatemala | 54.4% | 2014 | up 6.5% | falling |
| 27 | Qatar | 54.3% | 2017 | up 19.5% | rising |
| 28 | Cambodia | 52.4% | 2015 | up 87.2% | rising |
| 29 | Kuwait | 51.6% | 2018 | up 40.1% | rising |
| 30 | Egypt, Arab Republic of | 38.5% | 2017 | up 174.5% | rising |
| 31 | Bangladesh | 37.8% | 2019 | up 43.6% | rising |
| 32 | Iran, Islamic Republic of | 33.5% | 2016 | up 45.6% | rising |
| 33 | Uganda | 30.4% | 2012 | down 15.5% | rising |
| 34 | Pakistan | 27.4% | 2017 | up 23.3% | rising |
| 35 | Morocco | 26.7% | 2012 | up 370.1% | volatile |
| 36 | Mali | 13.5% | 2018 | up 48.3% | rising |
| 37 | Senegal | 10.2% | 2017 | down 1.6% | rising |
| 38 | Burkina Faso | 7.7% | 2014 | up 81.2% | volatile |
About this data
Percentage of females age 65 and above in urban areas who can, with understanding, read and write a short, simple statement on their everyday life. Generally, ‘literacy’ also encompasses ‘numeracy’, the ability to make simple arithmetic calculations. This indicator is calculated by dividing the number of female literates aged 65 years and over by the corresponding age group population and multiplying the result by 100. For more information, consult the UNESCO Institute of Statistics website: http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/