Literacy rate, population 25-64 years, adjusted gender parity index in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)

Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income): Literacy rate, population 25-64 years, adjusted gender parity index was 0.7667 GPIA in 2019. ▲ Rising

Latest (2019)
0.7667 GPIA
Change on year
up 0.6%
Rank
30th
of 37 groups
All-time high
0.7667 GPIA
in 2019
All-time low
0.5569 GPIA
in 1985
Years of data
35
1985–2019

Literacy rate, population 25-64 years, adjusted gender parity index in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income), 1985–2019

00.20.40.60.81985200220191985: 0.557 GPIA1986: 0.561 GPIA1987: 0.567 GPIA1988: 0.574 GPIA1989: 0.577 GPIA1990: 0.584 GPIA1991: 0.592 GPIA1992: 0.592 GPIA1993: 0.598 GPIA1994: 0.605 GPIA1995: 0.615 GPIA1996: 0.624 GPIA1997: 0.636 GPIA1998: 0.644 GPIA1999: 0.653 GPIA2000: 0.648 GPIA2001: 0.656 GPIA2002: 0.654 GPIA2003: 0.663 GPIA2004: 0.664 GPIA2005: 0.667 GPIA2006: 0.711 GPIA2007: 0.68 GPIA2008: 0.686 GPIA2009: 0.688 GPIA2010: 0.696 GPIA2011: 0.709 GPIA2012: 0.719 GPIA2013: 0.725 GPIA2014: 0.734 GPIA2015: 0.742 GPIA2016: 0.749 GPIA2017: 0.756 GPIA2018: 0.762 GPIA2019: 0.767 GPIA

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in GPIA.

Analysis

Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) recorded 0.7667 GPIA for literacy rate, population 25-64 years, adjusted gender parity index in 2019. That is the highest value across all 35 years on record.

That represents a change of up 0.6% on the previous year and up 11.5% over ten years.

Over the whole period, literacy rate, population 25-64 years, adjusted gender parity index in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) peaked at 0.7667 GPIA in 2019 and was at its lowest, 0.5569 GPIA, in 1985.

Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) ranks 30th of 37 groups on this measure, in the bottom quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 35 years of available data.

Literacy rate, population 25-64 years, adjusted gender parity index in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income), year by year

Annual values for Literacy rate, population 25-64 years, adjusted gender parity index (GPIA) in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income), 1985 to 2019.
Year GPIA Change
1985 0.5569 GPIA
1986 0.561 GPIA +0.7%
1987 0.5669 GPIA +1.1%
1988 0.5738 GPIA +1.2%
1989 0.5769 GPIA +0.5%
1990 0.5841 GPIA +1.2%
1991 0.5924 GPIA +1.4%
1992 0.5915 GPIA -0.2%
1993 0.5981 GPIA +1.1%
1994 0.6051 GPIA +1.2%
1995 0.6148 GPIA +1.6%
1996 0.6244 GPIA +1.6%
1997 0.6357 GPIA +1.8%
1998 0.6439 GPIA +1.3%
1999 0.6525 GPIA +1.3%
2000 0.648 GPIA -0.7%
2001 0.6557 GPIA +1.2%
2002 0.6536 GPIA -0.3%
2003 0.6627 GPIA +1.4%
2004 0.6639 GPIA +0.2%
2005 0.6666 GPIA +0.4%
2006 0.7106 GPIA +6.6%
2007 0.6799 GPIA -4.3%
2008 0.6858 GPIA +0.9%
2009 0.6876 GPIA +0.3%
2010 0.696 GPIA +1.2%
2011 0.7085 GPIA +1.8%
2012 0.7186 GPIA +1.4%
2013 0.7254 GPIA +0.9%
2014 0.7338 GPIA +1.2%
2015 0.7418 GPIA +1.1%
2016 0.7494 GPIA +1.0%
2017 0.7561 GPIA +0.9%
2018 0.7621 GPIA +0.8%
2019 0.7667 GPIA +0.6%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1980s 0.5671 GPIA 0.5569 GPIA 0.5769 GPIA 5
1990s 0.6143 GPIA 0.5841 GPIA 0.6525 GPIA 10
2000s 0.6714 GPIA 0.648 GPIA 0.7106 GPIA 10
2010s 0.7358 GPIA 0.696 GPIA 0.7667 GPIA 10

Countries ranked near Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)

  1. 27 Sri Lanka 0.9971 GPIA compare
  2. 28 Albania 0.9963 GPIA compare
  3. 29 South Africa 0.9961 GPIA compare
  4. 30 Montenegro 0.996 GPIA compare
  5. 31 Singapore 0.9959 GPIA compare
  6. 32 Paraguay 0.9932 GPIA compare
  7. 33 Ecuador 0.9929 GPIA compare

See the full ranking of 120 places →

More reference data data for Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)

All data for Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) →

Frequently asked questions

What is literacy rate, population 25-64 years, adjusted gender parity index in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)?
Literacy rate, population 25-64 years, adjusted gender parity index in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) was 0.7667 GPIA in 2019, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
What is the highest literacy rate, population 25-64 years, adjusted gender parity index recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)?
The highest recorded value was 0.7667 GPIA in 2019.
What is the lowest literacy rate, population 25-64 years, adjusted gender parity index recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)?
The lowest recorded value was 0.5569 GPIA in 1985.
How does Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) rank for literacy rate, population 25-64 years, adjusted gender parity index?
Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) ranks 30th out of 37 groups with data for 2019.
Is literacy rate, population 25-64 years, adjusted gender parity index rising or falling in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)?
Over the last ten years it is up 11.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) data come from?
The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, published as part of Literacy rate, population 25-64 years, adjusted gender parity index (GPIA). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

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Literacy rate, population 25-64 years, adjusted gender parity index in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income). Statizoid, drawing on UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 07 September 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/literacy-rate-population-25-64-years-adjusted-gender-parity-index-gpia/sub-saharan-africa-excluding-high-income/

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About this data

Indicator
Literacy rate, population 25-64 years, adjusted gender parity index (GPIA)
Unit
GPIA
Source
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
120 places, 2,155 data points, 1970–2019
Last refreshed

The Adjusted Gender Parity Index (GPIA) is calculated by dividing the female value for the indicator by the male value for the indicator. If the resulting value exceeds 1, the ratio is inverted and subtracted from 2. The adjusted gender parity index is symmetrical around 1 and lies in the range 0-2. An adjusted GPI equal to 1 indicates parity between females and males. In general, a value less than 1 indicates disparity in favor of males and a value greater than 1 indicates disparity in favor of females. For more information, consult the UNESCO Institute for Statistics: http://uis.unesco.org/