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Education · Literacy

Literacy rate, youth total (ages 15–24)

% of people ages 15–24 · Annual · 172 of 218 countries (79 %) · 1970–2024
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World average (population-weighted)
94.5 %
across 58 countries, 2022
Latest observation
2024
Source updated
13 Jul 2026
CountryAtlas refreshed
11 Sep 2026
Snapshot 20260911T072322Z

World map

One value per country for the selected year. Hatched = no data.

1970–2024 · 58 countries
Literacy rate, youth total (ages 15–24), 2022World map of Literacy rate, youth total (ages 15–24) (2022) for 58 countries, from 53.9 % to 100.0 %.Fiji: —Tanzania: 87.1 %W. Sahara: —Canada: —United States: —Kazakhstan: —Uzbekistan: 100.0 %Papua New Guinea: 91.9 %Indonesia: 93.8 %Argentina: —Chile: 99.3 %DR Congo: —Somalia: 70.7 %Kenya: —Sudan: —Chad: —Haiti: —Dominican Republic: 98.5 %Russia: —Bahamas: —Falkland Is.: —Norway: —Greenland: —Fr. S. Antarctic Lands: —Timor-Leste: 86.1 %South Africa: —Lesotho: —Mexico: 98.9 %Uruguay: 99.1 %Brazil: 99.3 %Bolivia: —Peru: 99.3 %Colombia: 98.9 %Panama: 99.3 %Costa Rica: —Nicaragua: —Honduras: 95.9 %El Salvador: 98.3 %Guatemala: 95.0 %Belize: 96.2 %Venezuela: —Guyana: —Suriname: —France: —Ecuador: 99.6 %Puerto Rico: —Jamaica: 93.6 %Cuba: —Zimbabwe: —Botswana: —Namibia: —Senegal: 75.3 %Mali: —Mauritania: —Benin: 71.3 %Niger: 53.9 %Nigeria: —Cameroon: —Togo: 90.4 %Ghana: —Côte d'Ivoire: —Guinea: —Guinea-Bissau: 82.2 %Liberia: —Sierra Leone: —Burkina Faso: 62.8 %Central African Republic: —Republic of the Congo: —Gabon: —Equatorial Guinea: —Zambia: 84.5 %Malawi: —Mozambique: 71.4 %Eswatini: 98.7 %Angola: —Burundi: —Israel: —Lebanon: —Madagascar: —Palestine: 99.4 %Gambia: —Tunisia: —Algeria: —Jordan: —United Arab Emirates: 99.7 %Qatar: —Kuwait: —Iraq: —Oman: 99.7 %Vanuatu: —Cambodia: —Thailand: 98.2 %Laos: 93.8 %Myanmar: —Vietnam: 99.1 %North Korea: —South Korea: —Mongolia: 99.7 %India: 96.5 %Bangladesh: 93.4 %Bhutan: 97.7 %Nepal: —Pakistan: —Afghanistan: 62.7 %Tajikistan: —Kyrgyzstan: —Turkmenistan: 99.9 %Iran: 98.6 %Syria: —Armenia: 99.8 %Sweden: —Belarus: —Ukraine: —Poland: —Austria: —Hungary: —Moldova: —Romania: —Lithuania: —Latvia: —Estonia: —Germany: —Bulgaria: —Greece: —Türkiye: 92.2 %Albania: —Croatia: —Switzerland: —Luxembourg: —Belgium: —Netherlands: —Portugal: —Spain: —Ireland: —New Caledonia: —Solomon Islands: —New Zealand: —Australia: —Sri Lanka: 98.8 %China: —Taiwan: —Italy: —Denmark: —United Kingdom: —Iceland: —Azerbaijan: —Georgia: 99.7 %Philippines: 99.8 %Malaysia: 98.8 %Brunei: —Slovenia: —Finland: —Slovakia: —Czechia: —Eritrea: —Japan: —Paraguay: 98.6 %Yemen: —Saudi Arabia: —N. Cyprus: —Cyprus: —Morocco: —Egypt: 95.2 %Libya: —Ethiopia: 84.7 %Djibouti: —Somaliland: —Uganda: —Rwanda: 90.0 %Bosnia and Herzegovina: —North Macedonia: —Serbia: 99.7 %Montenegro: —Kosovo: —Trinidad and Tobago: 92.0 %South Sudan: —
Literacy rate, youth total (ages 15–24), 2022
  • 53.9 % – 85.4 %
  • 85.4 % – 93.8 %
  • 93.8 % – 98.4 %
  • 98.4 % – 99.1 %
  • 99.1 % – 99.7 %
  • 99.7 % – 100.0 %
  • No data
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Trend

Aggregate across the countries of a group, year by year. Computed by CountryAtlas from country values — no published aggregate is used.

countries per year: 5–62
World · Literacy rate, youth total (ages 15–24)
Population-weighted mean
  • Population-weighted mean
  • Median
World · Literacy rate, youth total (ages 15–24)2 series from 1975 to 2024: Population-weighted mean, Median.198019902000201020200%20%40%60%80%100%

2 series from 1975 to 2024: Population-weighted mean, Median.

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Definition

Definition
Unit
% of people ages 15–24 (%)
Frequency
Annual
Aggregation
none · Higher is better
Valid range
0 – 100

Sources & provenance

Every value on this page comes from one of these series, chosen per country by priority.

  1. Priority #1
    World BankWDISE.ADT.1524.LT.ZSok
    172 countries · 1,270 obs. · → 2024 · CC BY 4.0

    Youth literacy rate is the percentage of people ages 15-24 who can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement about their everyday life. Source: Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/resources, note: The data are obtained through the UIS API. Detailed documentation is available at: https://api.uis.unesco.org/api/public/documentation/, publisher: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), type: Excel (bulk file), date accessed: 2026-03-19, date published: 2026-02

    Open at source

Series-level selection: for each country the whole series comes from the highest-priority source that has any non-forecast value for it. If a lower-priority source is more than three years fresher, the freshest source wins instead. Non-chosen values are kept as alternatives, never discarded.

Countries without data

160 of 218 countries have no value for 2022.

Typical reasons: the source does not survey small territories or micro-states; the statistical office reports with a lag of one to three years; the series is only compiled for member countries of the source organisation (OECD, EU, Eurostat); or a value exists but failed validation and is quarantined rather than shown.

Downloads & API

Every observation for this indicator, all countries and years, with provenance columns.

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API example

One country, full history. Replace CAN by any ISO3 code or slug.

bash
curl -s "https://www.countryatlas.co/api/v1/series?country=CAN&indicator=literacy-rate-youth" | jq '.series[0] | {country: .country.name, unit, last: .stats.last, source: .provenance.source_name}'

API documentation →