EU countries by youth literacy rate, ages 15 to 24, 2011
Estonia had the highest youth literacy rate, ages 15 to 24 of 10 EU countries in 2011, at 99.9%. Bulgaria had the lowest, at 97.9%. The median was 99.8%. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
All EU countries, 2011
Full ranking
| Rank | EU countries | 2011 (%) | Change on 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Estonia | 99.9 | |
| 2 | Italy | 99.9 | |
| 2 | Lithuania | 99.9 | |
| 4 | Latvia | 99.8 | |
| 5 | Cyprus | 99.8 | |
| 6 | Spain | 99.7 | +0.1 pts |
| 7 | Portugal | 99.4 | |
| 8 | Romania | 99 | |
| 9 | Malta | 98.9 | |
| 10 | Bulgaria | 97.9 |
About this ranking
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.
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, 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.Use this data in your AI agent
Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:
Rank EU countries by youth literacy rate, ages 15 to 24 using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"literacy_rate_youth_15_24","level":"country","within":"European Union (27)","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=literacy_rate_youth_15_24&level=country&within=European%20Union%20(27)&limit=10Questions
Which EU country has the highest youth literacy rate, ages 15 to 24?
Estonia, with 99.9% in 2011, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Which EU country has the lowest youth literacy rate, ages 15 to 24?
Bulgaria, with 97.9% 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, youth total, % of people ages 15-24 (SE.ADT.1524.LT.ZS). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 5 EU countries have no value for 2011 and are not ranked.