List of countries by literacy rate

List of countries by literacy rate, as included in the United Nations Development Programme Report 2005. Because definitions and data collection methods vary across countries, literacy estimates should be used with caution.

Rank	Country	Literacy rate
1	Australia	99.9
1	Austria	99.9
1	Belgium	99.9
1	Canada	99.9
1	Czech Republic	99.9
1	Denmark	99.9
1	Finland	99.9
1	France	99.9
1	Georgia	99.9
1	Germany	99.9
1	Iceland	99.9
1	Ireland	99.9
1	Japan	99.9
1	Luxembourg	99.9
1	Netherlands	99.9
1	New Zealand	99.9
1	Norway	99.9
1	Sweden	99.9
1	Switzerland	99.9
1	United Kingdom	99.9
1	United States	99.9
22	Estonia	99.8
23	Barbados	99.7
23	Latvia	99.7
23	Poland	99.7
23	Slovenia	99.7
27	Belarus	99.6
27	Lithuania	99.6
27	Slovakia	99.6
30	Kazakhstan	99.5
30	Tajikistan	99.5
32	Armenia	99.4
32	Russian Federation	99.4
32	Ukraine	99.4
35	Hungary	99.3
35	Uzbekistan	99.3
37	Tonga	98.9
38	Azerbaijan	98.8
38	Turkmenistan	98.8
40	Albania	98.7
40	Kyrgyzstan	98.7
40	Samoa	98.7
43	Italy	98.5
43	Trinidad and Tobago	98.5
45	Bulgaria	98.2
46	Croatia	98.1
47	South Korea	97.9
48	Mongolia	97.8
48	Saint Kitts and Nevis	97.8
50	Spain	97.7
50	Uruguay	97.7
52	Romania	97.3
53	Argentina	97.2
53	Maldives	97.2
55	Cuba	96.9
55	Israel	96.9
57	Cyprus	96.8
58	Guyana	96.5
59	Moldova	96.2
60	Republic of Macedonia	96.1
61	Grenada	96.0
62	Costa Rica	95.8
63	Chile	95.7
64	Bahamas	95.5
65	Bosnia and Herzegovina	94.6
66	Colombia	94.2
67	Hong Kong S.A.R. of the People's Republic of China	93.5
68	Venezuela	93.0
69	Fiji	92.9
70	Brunei	92.7
71	Philippines	92.6
71	Thailand	92.6
73	Portugal	92.5
73	Singapore	92.5
75	Palestinian territories	91.9
75	Panama	91.9
75	Seychelles	91.9
78	Paraguay	91.6
79	Ecuador	91.0
79	Greece	91.0
81	People's Republic of China (mainland only)	90.9
82	Sri Lanka	90.4
83	Mexico	90.3
83	Vietnam	90.3
85	Saint Lucia	90.1
86	Zimbabwe	90.0
87	Jordan	89.9
88	Myanmar	89.7
89	Qatar	89.2
90	Malaysia	88.7
91	Brazil	88.4
92	Turkey	88.3
93	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	88.1
94	Dominica	88.0
94	Suriname	88.0
96	Indonesia	87.9
96	Malta	87.9
98	Bahrain	87.7
99	Dominican Republic	87.7
100	Peru	87.7
101	Jamaica	87.6
102	Bolivia	86.5
102	Lebanon	86.5
104	Antigua and Barbuda	85.8
105	Namibia	85.0
106	Mauritius	84.3
107	Equatorial Guinea	84.2
108	São Tomé and Principe	83.1
109	Kuwait	82.9
109	Syria	82.9
111	Congo	82.8
112	South Africa	82.4
113	Libya	81.7
114	Lesotho	81.4
115	Honduras	80.0
116	El Salvador	79.7
117	Saudi Arabia	79.4
118	Swaziland	79.2
119	Botswana	78.9
120	United Arab Emirates	77.3
121	Iran	77.0
122	Belize	76.9
123	Nicaragua	76.7
124	Solomon Islands	76.6
125	Cape Verde	75.7
126	Oman	74.4
127	Tunisia	74.3
128	Vanuatu	74.0
129	Cambodia	73.6
129	Kenya	73.6
131	Gabon	71.0
132	Madagascar	70.6
133	Algeria	69.8
134	Tanzania	69.4
135	Guatemala	69.1
136	Uganda	68.9
137	Laos	68.7
138	Cameroon	67.9
138	Zambia	67.9
140	Angola	66.8
140	Nigeria	66.8
142	Djibouti	65.5
143	Democratic Republic of Congo	65.3
144	Malawi	64.1
145	Rwanda	64.0
146	India	61.0
147	Sudan	59.0
148	Burundi	58.9
149	Timor-Leste	58.6
150	Papua New Guinea	57.3
151	Eritrea	56.7
152	Comoros	56.2
153	Egypt	55.6
154	Ghana	54.1
155	Togo	53.0
156	Haiti	51.9
157	Mauritania	51.2
158	Morocco	50.7
159	Yemen	49.0
160	Pakistan	48.7
161	Central African Republic	48.6
161	Nepal	48.6
163	Côte d’Ivoire	48.1
164	Bhutan	47.0
165	Mozambique	46.5
166	Ethiopia	41.5
167	Bangladesh	41.1
168	Guinea	41.0
169	Guinea-Bissau	39.6
170	Senegal	39.3
171	Gambia	37.8
172	Benin	33.6
173	Sierra Leone	29.6
174	Chad	25.5
175	Mali	19.0
176	Niger	14.4
177	Burkina Faso	12.8

Notes

United Nations Development Programme Report 2005, PDF file (undp.org)
According to the CIA World Factbook, literacy rate in USA is 99% (cia.gov). In 1992 the USA conducted a big National Adult Literacy Survey. According to the National Institute of Literacy between 21 and 23 percent of the adult population, or approximately 44 million people scored in Level 1 which means that they "can read a little but not well enough to fill out an application, read a food label, or read a simple story to a child".

Lists of countries

Lista degli stati per tasso di alfabetizzazione | Lista de países por índice de analfabetismo

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See also

Notes