Data / Rankings / Adult literacy rate / EU countries

EU countries by adult literacy rate, 2011

Latvia had the highest adult literacy rate of 10 EU countries in 2011, at 99.9%. Malta had the lowest, at 93.3%. The median was 98.6%. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

Highest99.9Latvia
Lowest93.3Malta
Median98.610 EU countries

All EU countries, 2011

Latvia: 99.9 %Latvia99.9Estonia: 99.9 %Estonia99.9Lithuania: 99.8 %Lithuania99.8Italy: 98.8 %Italy98.8Cyprus: 98.7 %Cyprus98.7Romania: 98.6 %Romania98.6Bulgaria: 98.3 %Bulgaria98.3Spain: 97.8 %Spain97.8Portugal: 94.5 %Portugal94.5Malta: 93.3 %Malta93.3
%. 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.

Full ranking

RankEU countries2011 (%)Change on 2010
1Latvia99.9n/a
2Estonia99.9n/a
3Lithuania99.8n/a
4Italy98.8n/a
5Cyprus98.7n/a
6Romania98.6n/a
7Bulgaria98.3n/a
8Spain97.80 pts
9Portugal94.5n/a
10Malta93.3n/a

About this ranking

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.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the EU countries are compared on one definition. 5 EU countries with data in other periods have no value for 2011 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

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) (EU countries by adult literacy rate, 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), EU countries by adult literacy rate, 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/rankings/adult-literacy-rate/eu-countries. 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). EU countries by adult literacy rate, 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/rankings/adult-literacy-rate/eu-countries.

Harvard

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

BibTeX
@misc{unesco_eu_countries_by_adult_2011,
  author = {{UNESCO Institute for Statistics}},
  title = {{Literacy rate, adult total, \% of people ages 15 and above (SE.ADT.LITR.ZS): EU countries by adult literacy rate, 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/rankings/adult-literacy-rate/eu-countries. 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): EU countries by adult literacy rate, 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/rankings/adult-literacy-rate/eu-countries
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Retrieved through World Bank, World Development Indicators (https://data.worldbank.org).
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/adult-literacy-rate/eu-countries.
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

Which EU country has the highest adult literacy rate?

Latvia, with 99.9% in 2011, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

Which EU country has the lowest adult literacy rate?

Malta, with 93.3% in 2011.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Literacy rate, adult total, % of people ages 15 and above (SE.ADT.LITR.ZS). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 5 EU countries have no value for 2011 and are not ranked.

Adult literacy rate: other rankings

EU countries: more rankings