# Adult literacy rate in World

Adult literacy rate in World was 87.7% in 2024. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

- Indicator id: `literacy_rate_adult`
- Place id: `world`
- Unit: %
- 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.
- Note: 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.
- Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Literacy rate, adult total, % of people ages 15 and above (SE.ADT.LITR.ZS) (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS), via World Bank, World Development Indicators (https://data.worldbank.org)
- Publisher page: https://invokely.ai/en/publishers/unesco-institute-for-statistics
- Retrieved: 2026-10-12
- License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (commercial and non-commercial reuse, attribution required, adaptations shared under the same licence, no implied UIS endorsement)
- Citation: 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.
- Web page: https://invokely.ai/en/adult-literacy-rate/world
- API: https://invokely.ai/api/v1/series?indicator=literacy_rate_adult&place=world

| Period | % |
|---|---:|
| 2024 | 87.7 |
| 2023 | 87.6 |
| 2022 | 87.4 |
| 2021 | 87.2 |
| 2020 | 87 |
| 2019 | 86.8 |
| 2018 | 86.8 |
| 2017 | 86.5 |
| 2016 | 86.3 |
| 2015 | 86 |
| 2014 | 85.6 |
| 2013 | 85.2 |
| 2012 | 84.9 |
| 2011 | 84.7 |
| 2010 | 84.4 |
| 2009 | 83.8 |
| 2008 | 83.5 |
| 2007 | 83.1 |
| 2006 | 82.5 |
| 2005 | 82.6 |
| 2004 | 82.6 |
| 2003 | 82.2 |
| 2002 | 81.7 |
| 2001 | 81.4 |
| 2000 | 81.1 |
| 1999 | 80.9 |
| 1998 | 80.5 |
| 1997 | 79.3 |
| 1996 | 77.3 |
| 1995 | 76.9 |
| 1994 | 76.4 |
| 1993 | 76 |
| 1992 | 75.5 |
| 1991 | 75.1 |
| 1990 | 74.6 |
| 1989 | 74.1 |
| 1988 | 73.6 |
| 1987 | 71.9 |
| 1986 | 71.3 |
| 1985 | 70.7 |
| 1984 | 70.2 |
| 1983 | 69.5 |
| 1982 | 68.9 |
| 1981 | 68.3 |
| 1980 | 67.8 |
| 1979 | 67.2 |
| 1978 | 66.5 |
| 1977 | 65.9 |
| 1976 | 65.6 |
| 1975 | 65.4 |