Elderly literacy rate, population 65+ years, urban, male (%) by country
Percentage of males 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 male...
What the numbers show
Elderly literacy rate, population 65+ years, urban, male (%) is currently reported for 38 countries. The highest value is 99.3% in Moldova; the lowest is 42.6% in Burkina Faso.
The median across all reporting countries is 89.2%, and the mean is 82.4%.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 2.
Over the past decade 36 countries rose and 2 fell. The largest increase was in Morocco (up 65.9%), and the largest decrease in South Africa (down 10.5%).
Elderly literacy rate, population 65+ years, urban, male: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moldova | 99.3% | 2014 | up 2.1% | flat |
| 2 | Azerbaijan | 99.1% | 2017 | up 0.0% | flat |
| 3 | Argentina | 98.1% | 2018 | up 0.1% | flat |
| 4 | Greece | 97.7% | 2011 | up 2.5% | flat |
| 5 | Uruguay | 97.6% | 2018 | up 1.7% | rising |
| 6 | Spain | 97.4% | 2018 | up 1.4% | flat |
| 7 | Singapore | 95.5% | 2018 | up 4.9% | flat |
| 8 | Peru | 94.5% | 2018 | up 4.0% | rising |
| 9 | Chile | 93.4% | 2017 | up 3.4% | flat |
| 10 | Türkiye | 92.6% | 2015 | up 9.7% | rising |
| 11 | Sri Lanka | 92.2% | 2018 | up 3.2% | flat |
| 12 | Bolivia, Plurinational State of | 92.0% | 2015 | up 1.2% | rising |
| 13 | Palestine, State of | 91.6% | 2018 | up 20.6% | rising |
| 14 | Kuwait | 91.4% | 2018 | up 21.0% | rising |
| 15 | Mexico | 90.2% | 2018 | up 5.8% | rising |
| 16 | Cambodia | 90.1% | 2015 | up 12.0% | rising |
| 17 | Indonesia | 90.1% | 2018 | up 8.9% | rising |
| 18 | Thailand | 89.6% | 2015 | up 1.2% | flat |
| 19 | Malaysia | 89.2% | 2018 | up 7.9% | rising |
| 20 | Ecuador | 89.2% | 2017 | up 1.1% | rising |
| 21 | Colombia | 88.9% | 2018 | up 4.9% | rising |
| 22 | Dominican Republic | 85.0% | 2016 | up 7.2% | rising |
| 23 | Brazil | 84.1% | 2018 | up 9.0% | rising |
| 24 | El Salvador | 82.7% | 2018 | up 12.4% | rising |
| 25 | Paraguay | 81.7% | 2018 | down 5.7% | flat |
| 26 | Guatemala | 79.5% | 2014 | up 21.8% | flat |
| 27 | Qatar | 79.5% | 2017 | up 49.3% | rising |
| 28 | Honduras | 78.3% | 2018 | up 11.0% | rising |
| 29 | South Africa | 77.7% | 2017 | down 10.5% | rising |
| 30 | Uganda | 68.2% | 2012 | up 5.6% | rising |
| 31 | Bangladesh | 66.5% | 2019 | up 21.6% | rising |
| 32 | Iran | 61.5% | 2016 | up 22.1% | rising |
| 33 | Egypt | 61.0% | 2017 | up 21.1% | rising |
| 34 | Morocco | 60.4% | 2012 | up 65.9% | rising |
| 35 | Senegal | 58.7% | 2017 | up 26.9% | rising |
| 36 | Pakistan | 56.5% | 2017 | up 8.3% | rising |
| 37 | Mali | 49.3% | 2018 | up 42.3% | rising |
| 38 | Burkina Faso | 42.6% | 2014 | up 27.5% | rising |
About this data
Percentage of males 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 male 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/