Adult literacy rate in Pakistan
Adult literacy rate in Pakistan was 58.9% in 2021, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics. That is the 47th highest of 56 countries in 2019.
Adult literacy rate in Pakistan, 1981 to 2021
All 16 values
| Period | % |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 58.9 |
| 2019 | 58 |
| 2018 | 57 |
| 2017 | 59.1 |
| 2014 | 57 |
| 2013 | 55.6 |
| 2012 | 56.8 |
| 2011 | 54.7 |
| 2010 | 55.4 |
| 2009 | 54.9 |
| 2008 | 55.5 |
| 2007 | 52.1 |
| 2006 | 54.2 |
| 2005 | 49.9 |
| 1998 | 42.7 |
| 1981 | 25.7 |
Rankings
Definition
People aged 15 and over who can both read and write, with understanding, a short simple statement about their everyday life, as a percentage of the population aged 15 and over. UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
UIS figures from censuses, household surveys and UIS model estimates. Most high-income countries stopped measuring literacy decades ago, so they have no value; a missing value is not a rate of 0 or 100. Countries report in different years, so a ranking for one year covers only some countries.
How to cite
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). Literacy rate, adult total, % of people ages 15 and above (SE.ADT.LITR.ZS). Retrieved through World Bank World Development Indicators (data.worldbank.org). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS. Retrieved 2026-10-12. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. UIS does not endorse Invokely or this use of the data.Use this data in your AI agent
Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:
What is the latest adult literacy rate in Pakistan? Cite the source.
get_value {"indicator":"literacy_rate_adult","place":"pk"}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/value?indicator=literacy_rate_adult&place=pkQuestions
What is the adult literacy rate in Pakistan?
Adult literacy rate in Pakistan was 58.9% in 2021, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics. That is the 47th highest of 56 countries in 2019.
Where does this figure come from?
UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Literacy rate, adult total, % of people ages 15 and above (SE.ADT.LITR.ZS). Retrieved by Invokely on 2026-10-12.
What was the highest adult literacy rate in Pakistan?
59.1% in 2017, the highest value since 1981 in this series.