Data / Adult literacy rate / World

Adult literacy rate in World

Adult literacy rate in the World was 87.7% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics. That is up 0.2 pts from 2023.

202487.7%
Change on 2023+0.2 pts
Series high87.72024
Series low65.41975
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Adult literacy rate in World, 1975 to 2024

65707580859019751983199119992007201520241975: 65.4 %1976: 65.6 %1977: 65.9 %1978: 66.5 %1979: 67.2 %1980: 67.8 %1981: 68.3 %1982: 68.9 %1983: 69.5 %1984: 70.2 %1985: 70.7 %1986: 71.3 %1987: 71.9 %1988: 73.6 %1989: 74.1 %1990: 74.6 %1991: 75.1 %1992: 75.5 %1993: 76 %1994: 76.4 %1995: 76.9 %1996: 77.3 %1997: 79.3 %1998: 80.5 %1999: 80.9 %2000: 81.1 %2001: 81.4 %2002: 81.7 %2003: 82.2 %2004: 82.6 %2005: 82.6 %2006: 82.5 %2007: 83.1 %2008: 83.5 %2009: 83.8 %2010: 84.4 %2011: 84.7 %2012: 84.9 %2013: 85.2 %2014: 85.6 %2015: 86 %2016: 86.3 %2017: 86.5 %2018: 86.8 %2019: 86.8 %2020: 87 %2021: 87.2 %2022: 87.4 %2023: 87.6 %2024: 87.7 %
%. 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 50 values
Period%
202487.7
202387.6
202287.4
202187.2
202087
201986.8
201886.8
201786.5
201686.3
201586
201485.6
201385.2
201284.9
201184.7
201084.4
200983.8
200883.5
200783.1
200682.5
200582.6
200482.6
200382.2
200281.7
200181.4
200081.1
199980.9
199880.5
199779.3
199677.3
199576.9
199476.4
199376
199275.5
199175.1
199074.6
198974.1
198873.6
198771.9
198671.3
198570.7
198470.2
198369.5
198268.9
198168.3
198067.8
197967.2
197866.5
197765.9
197665.6
197565.4

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, World, 1975 to 2024) [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, World, 1975 to 2024. 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/world. 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, World, 1975 to 2024. 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/world.

Harvard

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) Literacy rate, adult total, % of people ages 15 and above (SE.ADT.LITR.ZS), Adult literacy rate, World, 1975 to 2024 [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/world (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{unesco_adult_literacy_rate_world_2024,
  author = {{UNESCO Institute for Statistics}},
  title = {{Literacy rate, adult total, \% of people ages 15 and above (SE.ADT.LITR.ZS): Adult literacy rate, World, 1975 to 2024}},
  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/world. 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, World, 1975 to 2024
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/world
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/world.
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 World?

Adult literacy rate in the World was 87.7% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics. That is up 0.2 pts from 2023.

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 World?

87.7% in 2024, the highest value since 1975 in this series.

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