Illiterate population, 25-64 years, male (number) by country

Name: Illiterate population, 25-64 years, male (number)
Creator: UNESCO Institute for Statistics
License: CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)

Total number of males from age 25 to age 64 who cannot both read and write with understanding a short simple statement on their everyday life.

Countries reporting

Highest

65.54 million number

India

Lowest

2 number

Uzbekistan

Median

238,248 number

Years covered

1970–2019

Data points

2,243

What the numbers show

Illiterate population, 25-64 years, male (number) is currently reported for 83 countries. The highest value is 65.54 million number in India; the lowest is 2 number in Uzbekistan.

The median across all reporting countries is 238,248 number, and the mean is 1.78 million number.

Over the past decade 35 countries rose and 47 fell. The largest increase was in Azerbaijan (up 513.5%), and the largest decrease in Bahrain (down 83.1%).

Illiterate population, 25-64 years, male: full country ranking

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	India	65.54 million number	2018	down 8.0%	flat
2	Pakistan	13.48 million number	2017	up 15.8%	rising
3	Nigeria	10.87 million number	2018	up 3.6%	rising
4	Bangladesh	10.48 million number	2019	down 32.4%	rising
5	Egypt	5.48 million number	2017	up 19.7%	rising
6	China	3.69 million number	2018	down 37.8%	volatile
7	Brazil	3.50 million number	2018	down 27.2%	falling
8	Cote d'Ivoire	2.22 million number	2018	up 17.8%	rising
9	Burkina Faso	1.75 million number	2018	up 28.9%	rising
10	Iran	1.70 million number	2016	down 13.3%	falling
11	South Africa	1.65 million number	2017	up 62.5%	falling
12	Mali	1.63 million number	2018	up 19.7%	rising
13	Chad	1.53 million number	2016	up 69.7%	rising
14	Morocco	1.51 million number	2018	down 35.1%	falling
15	Indonesia	1.45 million number	2018	down 32.3%	falling
16	Tanzania	1.37 million number	2015	up 21.0%	rising
17	Uganda	1.29 million number	2018	up 68.0%	rising
18	Nepal	1.20 million number	2018	down 25.5%	falling
19	Mozambique	1.20 million number	2017	down 2.2%	flat
20	Madagascar	1.14 million number	2018	up 3.6%	rising
21	Algeria	1.11 million number	2018	down 20.7%	falling
22	Thailand	1.03 million number	2018	up 63.7%	rising
23	Benin	1.02 million number	2018	up 22.5%	rising
24	Vietnam	1.02 million number	2018	up 9.9%	rising
25	Senegal	959,346 number	2017	up 17.2%	rising
26	Mexico	869,768 number	2018	down 23.8%	falling
27	Cameroon	817,160 number	2018	up 19.2%	rising
28	Malawi	798,718 number	2015	up 30.4%	rising
29	Colombia	570,730 number	2018	down 8.6%	falling
30	Rwanda	536,304 number	2018	up 3.2%	rising
31	Burundi	505,528 number	2017	down 17.2%	rising
32	Cambodia	488,245 number	2015	up 43.8%	rising
33	Philippines	425,685 number	2015	down 72.0%	falling
34	Guatemala	402,055 number	2014	down 18.7%	flat
35	Sri Lanka	375,235 number	2018	down 6.1%	rising
36	Central African Republic	355,179 number	2018	up 3.7%	rising
37	Tunisia	334,393 number	2014	down 1.6%	falling
38	Togo	327,134 number	2015	up 3.3%	rising
39	Saudi Arabia	280,724 number	2017	down 65.5%	falling
40	Zambia	277,127 number	2018	down 45.7%	rising
41	Honduras	267,043 number	2018	up 13.8%	rising
42	Malaysia	238,248 number	2018	down 9.2%	falling
43	Peru	217,201 number	2018	down 17.3%	falling
44	Ecuador	204,064 number	2017	up 20.7%	falling
45	Venezuela	181,426 number	2016	down 26.5%	falling
46	Laos	152,017 number	2015	down 16.2%	rising
47	Dominican Republic	150,852 number	2016	down 39.0%	falling
48	Turkey	142,742 number	2017	down 67.4%	volatile
49	Chile	142,534 number	2017	up 132.5%	falling
50	Qatar	106,882 number	2017	up 65.0%	rising
51	El Salvador	104,186 number	2018	down 27.8%	falling
52	Argentina	102,052 number	2018	up 5.1%	volatile
53	Spain	88,390 number	2018	down 35.5%	falling
54	Paraguay	69,017 number	2018	down 0.5%	falling
55	Kuwait	59,645 number	2018	up 20.0%	falling
56	Bolivia	59,262 number	2015	down 0.2%	volatile
57	Oman	57,277 number	2018	down 36.9%	falling
58	Portugal	39,067 number	2018	down 18.8%	volatile
59	Namibia	39,029 number	2018	down 58.3%	falling
60	Greece	38,580 number	2018	up 12.4%	falling
61	Jordan	31,679 number	2018	down 30.1%	falling
62	Panama	30,294 number	2018	down 18.7%	falling
63	Eswatini	26,285 number	2018	down 12.0%	falling
64	Singapore	14,282 number	2018	down 41.5%	falling
65	Uruguay	12,234 number	2018	down 17.7%	falling
66	Palestine	10,033 number	2018	down 31.7%	falling
67	Kazakhstan	7,604 number	2018	up 17.1%	volatile
68	Malta	7,393 number	2018	down 24.2%	falling
69	Vanuatu	7,048 number	2018	down 14.4%	falling
70	Bahrain	6,947 number	2018	down 83.1%	volatile
71	Albania	6,067 number	2018	down 23.4%	rising
72	Suriname	5,297 number	2018	up 3.2%	falling
73	Maldives	4,048 number	2016	up 331.6%	volatile
74	Moldova	3,971 number	2014	up 20.7%	falling
75	Brunei	2,230 number	2018	down 3.9%	volatile
76	Macao	2,228 number	2016	down 42.1%	falling
77	Sao Tome and Principe	1,368 number	2018	down 75.7%	volatile
78	Azerbaijan	1,178 number	2017	up 513.5%	volatile
79	Seychelles	906 number	2018	down 32.8%	falling
80	Montenegro	769 number	2018	up 9.7%	volatile
81	Barbados	220 number	2014	up 5.8%	falling
82	Tonga	119 number	2018	down 44.1%	rising
83	Uzbekistan	2 number	2018	—	volatile

Regions and income groups

Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.

World 192.12 million number
IDA & IBRD total 185.61 million number
Low & middle income 185.34 million number
Middle income 146.25 million number
Lower middle income 127.35 million number
Early-demographic dividend 123.01 million number
IBRD only 95.16 million number
South Asia 93.91 million number
South Asia (IDA & IBRD) 93.91 million number
IDA total 90.47 million number
IDA only 62.35 million number
Least developed countries 59.00 million number
Sub-Saharan Africa 56.81 million number
Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD countries) 56.81 million number
Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) 56.79 million number
Pre-demographic dividend 50.83 million number
Heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) 44.73 million number
Low income 39.09 million number
IDA blend 28.10 million number
Arab World 20.44 million number
Upper middle income 18.89 million number
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan 16.52 million number
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan (excluding high income) 15.55 million number
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan (IDA & IBRD) 15.54 million number
East Asia & Pacific 13.81 million number
Late-demographic dividend 12.80 million number
East Asia & Pacific (IDA & IBRD countries) 11.12 million number
East Asia & Pacific (excluding high income) 11.12 million number
Latin America & Caribbean 7.89 million number
Latin America & the Caribbean (IDA & IBRD countries) 7.81 million number
Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) 7.64 million number
Europe & Central Asia 1.80 million number
Small states 1.21 million number
Other small states 1.00 million number
Europe & Central Asia (IDA & IBRD countries) 422,724 number
Europe & Central Asia (excluding high income) 329,574 number
Caribbean Small States 180,814 number
Central Europe and the Baltics 161,080 number
Pacific island small states 22,254 number

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Illiterate population, 25-64 years, male by country. Statizoid, drawing on UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 24 September 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/illiterate-population-25-64-years-male-number/

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About this data

Indicator: Illiterate population, 25-64 years, male (number)
Unit: number
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage: 122 places, 2,243 data points, 1970–2019
Last refreshed: 18 September 2026

Total number of males from age 25 to age 64 who cannot both read and write with understanding a short simple statement on their everyday life.