Youth literacy rate, ages 15 to 24 in South Africa

Youth literacy rate, ages 15 to 24 in South Africa was 97.2% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

202497.2%
Series high992015
Series low85.21980

Youth literacy rate, ages 15 to 24 in South Africa, 1980 to 2024

85909510019802007201020122015201920241980: 85.2 %1996: 93.9 %2007: 97.6 %2009: 98.4 %2010: 98.6 %2011: 98.8 %2012: 98.9 %2014: 98.9 %2015: 99 %2016: 96.7 %2019: 98.4 %2021: 96.7 %2024: 97.2 %
%. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Literacy rate, youth total, % of people ages 15-24 (SE.ADT.1524.LT.ZS) via World Bank, World Development Indicators. Retrieved 2026-10-12, published 2026-10-08.
All 13 values
Period%
202497.2
202196.7
201998.4
201696.7
201599
201498.9
201298.9
201198.8
201098.6
200998.4
200797.6
199693.9
198085.2

Rankings

Definition

People aged 15 to 24 who can both read and write, with understanding, a short simple statement about their everyday life, as a percentage of the population aged 15 to 24. 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, youth total, % of people ages 15-24 (SE.ADT.1524.LT.ZS). Retrieved through World Bank World Development Indicators (data.worldbank.org). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.1524.LT.ZS. Retrieved 2026-10-12. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. UIS does not endorse Invokely or this use of the data.

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Questions

What is the youth literacy rate, ages 15 to 24 in South Africa?

Youth literacy rate, ages 15 to 24 in South Africa was 97.2% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

Where does this figure come from?

UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Literacy rate, youth total, % of people ages 15-24 (SE.ADT.1524.LT.ZS). Retrieved by Invokely on 2026-10-12.

What was the highest youth literacy rate, ages 15 to 24 in South Africa?

99% in 2015, the highest value since 1980 in this series.

Youth literacy rate, ages 15 to 24 in other countries

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