Adult literacy rate in Portugal

Adult literacy rate in Portugal was 94.5% in 2011, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics. That is the 9th highest of 10 EU countries in 2011.

201194.5%
Rank9th of 10EU countries ranked
Series high94.52011
Series low79.41981
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Adult literacy rate in Portugal, 1981 to 2011

75808590951981199120111981: 79.4 %1991: 87.9 %2011: 94.5 %
%. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Literacy rate, adult total, % of people ages 15 and above (SE.ADT.LITR.ZS) via World Bank, World Development Indicators. Retrieved 2026-10-12, published 2026-10-08.
All 3 values
Period%
201194.5
199187.9
198179.4

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.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (2026). Literacy rate, adult total, % of people ages 15 and above (SE.ADT.LITR.ZS) (Adult literacy rate, Portugal, 1981 to 2011) [Data set]. World Bank, World Development Indicators. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS

MLA 9

Literacy rate, adult total, % of people ages 15 and above (SE.ADT.LITR.ZS), Adult literacy rate, Portugal, 1981 to 2011. UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 8 Oct. 2026, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS. World Bank, World Development Indicators, https://data.worldbank.org. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/adult-literacy-rate/portugal. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

UNESCO Institute for Statistics. 2026. Literacy rate, adult total, % of people ages 15 and above (SE.ADT.LITR.ZS). Adult literacy rate, Portugal, 1981 to 2011. Dataset. Distributed by World Bank, World Development Indicators. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/adult-literacy-rate/portugal.

Harvard

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) Literacy rate, adult total, % of people ages 15 and above (SE.ADT.LITR.ZS), Adult literacy rate, Portugal, 1981 to 2011 [Dataset]. Via World Bank, World Development Indicators. Available at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/en/adult-literacy-rate/portugal (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{unesco_adult_literacy_rate_portugal_2011,
  author = {{UNESCO Institute for Statistics}},
  title = {{Literacy rate, adult total, \% of people ages 15 and above (SE.ADT.LITR.ZS): Adult literacy rate, Portugal, 1981 to 2011}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  publisher = {World Bank, World Development Indicators},
  url = {https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Retrieved through World Bank, World Development Indicators (https://data.worldbank.org). Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/adult-literacy-rate/portugal. Publisher attribution: 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.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - UNESCO Institute for Statistics
TI  - Literacy rate, adult total, % of people ages 15 and above (SE.ADT.LITR.ZS): Adult literacy rate, Portugal, 1981 to 2011
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/08
PB  - World Bank, World Development Indicators
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS
L2  - https://invokely.ai/en/adult-literacy-rate/portugal
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Retrieved through World Bank, World Development Indicators (https://data.worldbank.org).
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/adult-literacy-rate/portugal.
N1  - Publisher attribution: 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.
ER  - 
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Questions

What is the adult literacy rate in Portugal?

Adult literacy rate in Portugal was 94.5% in 2011, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics. That is the 9th highest of 10 EU countries in 2011.

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 Portugal?

94.5% in 2011, the highest value since 1981 in this series.

Adult literacy rate elsewhere in European Union (27)

Related statistics for Portugal

All statistics for Portugal | Portugal in figures