Literacy rate, people aged 65 and above

percent, 1999–2016

Country	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Afghanistan													20.32
Albania			92.74	90.97	89.21	87.44	85.67	83.90	82.13	80.36	82.34	84.32	86.30	86.91
Algeria				14.67	14.94	15.20	15.46	15.73	17.64	19.55
Andorra																	100.00	100.00
Angola			33.68	33.17	32.66	32.14	31.63	31.12	30.61	30.10	29.59	29.07	28.56	28.05	27.54	27.03
Argentina			93.82	93.91	94.00	94.09	94.18	94.27	94.36	94.45	94.55	94.64	94.73	94.82	94.91	95.00	95.09
Armenia			96.79	97.01	97.22	97.44	97.65	97.87	98.08	98.30	98.51	98.73	98.94
Aruba		88.71	88.73	88.74	88.76	88.77	88.79	88.80	88.82	88.83	88.85	88.86
Azerbaijan	90.31	90.96	91.60	92.25	92.89	93.54	94.18	94.83	95.48	96.86	98.24	98.09	98.12	98.18	98.28	98.32	98.35	98.42
Bahrain			42.34	43.11	43.88	44.65	45.42	46.20	46.97	47.74	48.51	49.28
Bangladesh			28.64	27.95	27.26	26.57	25.88	25.19	24.50	23.39	22.27	21.16	20.04	24.04	28.05	32.05	36.05	40.05
Belarus	98.36	98.39	98.41	98.43	98.45	98.47	98.49	98.52	98.54	98.56	98.58
Benin				8.00	8.05	8.10	8.15	8.20	8.00	7.81	7.61	7.42	7.22	7.03
Bhutan							17.29	16.95	16.62	16.28	15.95	15.61	15.27	14.94
Bolivia			48.08	49.58	51.07	52.57	54.06	55.56	57.06	60.06	61.25	64.17	67.09	72.30	70.69	69.08	67.47
Bosnia and Herzegovina		83.20	84.25	85.30	86.35	87.40	88.44	89.49	90.54	91.59	92.64	93.69	94.74	90.39	86.04
Botswana					30.87
Brazil		62.02	62.96	63.89	64.83	65.76	66.92	68.08	68.95	69.14	69.20	70.64	71.96	72.83	72.32	73.55
Brunei			37.64	40.04	42.44	44.84	47.24	49.64	52.04	54.44	56.84	59.25	61.65
Bulgaria			96.17	96.31	96.44	96.57	96.71	96.84	96.98	97.11	97.25	97.38	97.52
Burkina Faso					4.83	4.97	5.12	2.98	9.06	8.97	8.87	8.78	8.68	8.59	8.49	8.39
Burundi		18.65	18.76	18.88	18.99	19.11	19.22	19.34	19.45	19.57	20.46	21.36	22.25	23.15	24.04	24.93
Ivory Coast		11.13	12.31	13.48	14.66	15.84	17.02	18.19	19.37	20.55	21.72	22.90	24.08	25.25	21.62	17.99
Cape Verde														33.20	34.41	35.61	36.82
Cambodia						38.15	40.58	43.02	45.45	47.89	40.11
Cameroon		25.97	25.06	24.14	23.23	22.31	21.40	20.49	19.57	21.76	23.94	26.12
Cayman Islands									94.71
Central African Republic		14.22	16.37	18.52	20.67	22.82	24.97	27.12	29.27	31.42	33.57	35.72
Chad		6.50	5.53	4.57	3.60	2.63	3.15	3.67	4.18	4.70	5.22	5.73	6.25	6.77	7.28	7.80	8.31	7.03
Chile				85.34	86.99	88.63	90.28	91.92	93.57	95.21	95.31	92.18	89.06	88.97	88.89
China		58.72	60.24	61.76	63.28	64.80	66.31	67.83	69.35	70.87	72.39	73.91
Macau			56.18	56.96	57.74	58.51	59.29	60.07	62.58	65.09	67.61	70.12	72.63	74.34	76.06	77.77	79.49	81.20
Colombia						74.97	75.97	74.87	75.70	76.78	76.07	76.30	78.13	78.71	79.29	79.86	80.28
Comoros		38.18	36.06	33.95	31.83	29.71	27.59	25.47	23.36	21.24	19.12	17.00	14.89	12.77
Congo (Brazzaville)													73.08
Costa Rica		82.64	83.35	84.05	84.75	85.45	86.16	86.86	87.56	88.27	88.97	89.67	90.37
Croatia			93.06	93.47	93.87	94.28	94.68	95.09	95.49	95.90	96.30	96.70	97.11
Cuba				99.16	99.16	99.16	99.16	99.16	99.16	99.16	99.16	99.16	99.16	99.16
Cyprus			83.63	84.64	85.66	86.68	87.69	88.71	89.73	90.74	91.76	92.78	93.79
North Korea										99.99
Congo (Kinshasa)			36.21	38.60	41.00	43.39	45.78	48.17	50.57	50.02	49.48	48.93	48.38	47.84	47.87	47.90	47.94	47.97
Dominican Republic				63.78	64.73	65.68	66.62	67.57	68.52	68.99	69.47	69.95	72.39	73.04	76.15	78.80	78.39
Ecuador			73.05	69.90	66.75	63.60	60.46	57.31	54.16	59.86	65.57	71.51	69.73	73.20	74.50	77.03	77.89	77.66
Egypt							45.97	26.78	29.95	33.11	36.28	39.44	37.26	35.08	43.22
El Salvador								53.44	52.50	53.53	55.64	56.98	56.82	58.73	60.63	62.72	64.82
Equatorial Guinea		52.83
Eritrea				18.12	18.59	19.06	19.54	20.01	20.48	20.95
Estonia		99.55	99.57	99.58	99.60	99.61	99.63	99.64	99.66	99.67	99.69	99.71	99.72
Ethiopia							8.75	11.19	13.63
Gabon														60.56
Gambia		15.80	15.38	14.96	14.55	14.13	13.71	13.30	12.88	12.46	12.05	11.63	11.21	10.80	10.38
Georgia				98.79	98.82	98.84	98.86	98.89	98.91	98.93	98.96	98.98	99.00	99.03	99.05	99.07
Ghana		29.49	30.03	30.57	31.11	31.65	32.19	32.73	33.27	33.81	34.35	34.89
Greece			86.93	83.56	80.18	76.81	73.44	74.97	76.50	76.53	76.57	84.25	91.93
Greenland																	100.00
Guatemala				40.59	40.70	40.82	40.93	41.04	41.16	41.27	41.38	41.50	41.61	41.72	45.39	50.71
Guinea					10.81	10.49	10.17	9.84	9.52	9.20	8.88	8.55	9.69	10.83	11.97	13.11
Guinea Bissau		9.66	10.36	11.06	11.76	12.46	13.16	13.86	14.56	15.26	15.96	16.66	17.36	18.06	18.76	19.46
Guyana											64.43	61.52	58.61	55.71	52.80	49.89
Haiti					20.20	16.31	12.42	8.53
Honduras			45.55	46.41	47.28	48.14	49.00	49.86	50.73	51.01	51.29	51.57	48.05	56.70	57.09	59.24	60.19	66.28
India			35.59	35.52	35.45	35.37	35.30	35.22	36.50	37.77	39.05	40.33	41.60
Indonesia						53.22	63.29	73.36	65.64	57.92	62.12	63.22	64.33	66.82	69.32	71.81	69.17	70.06
Iran							26.68	27.82	28.37	28.92	29.84	30.77	31.69	32.62	34.25	34.29
Iraq		18.59	18.73	18.86	19.00	19.14	19.28	19.42	19.55	19.69	19.83	19.97	20.11	20.25	20.38
Italy			95.07	95.23	95.40	95.57	95.73	95.90	96.06	96.23	96.40	96.56	96.73
Jamaica	52.36
Jordan					41.54	42.99	44.44	45.68	46.93	49.13	51.32	53.52	55.01	87.70
Kazakhstan	96.53	96.75	96.97	97.18	97.40	97.61	97.83	98.05	98.26	98.48	98.70	99.50
Kenya		36.85	37.85	38.84	39.84	40.83	41.82	42.82	43.81	45.27	46.73	48.20	49.66	51.12	52.58	54.04
Kuwait							51.49	53.67	55.53	57.37	59.03	60.69	62.63	64.58	68.18	68.86	69.55
Kyrgyzstan	90.15	90.38	90.62	90.85	91.08	91.31	91.54	91.78	92.01	92.24	92.47
Laos		36.30	28.39	30.14	31.88	33.63	35.38	34.58	33.77	32.97	32.16	31.36	30.55
Latvia		99.41	99.45	99.50	99.55	99.59	99.64	99.69	99.73	99.78	99.83	99.88	99.92
Lebanon									58.59	59.37	60.15
Lesotho		69.05	67.53	66.01	64.49	62.98	61.46	59.94	58.42	56.90	55.39	54.60	53.81	53.02	52.23	51.44
Liberia									32.81
Lithuania			99.31	99.36	99.41	99.46	99.51	99.56	99.61	99.66	99.71	99.76	99.81
Madagascar		46.58	46.82	47.05	47.28	47.51	47.74	47.98	48.21	48.44	48.67	48.90	49.13	49.37
Malawi												34.63	35.36	36.08	36.81	37.54	35.14
Malaysia		44.33	45.74	47.15	48.57	49.98	51.40	52.81	54.23	55.64	57.06	58.47
Maldives		90.02	90.36	90.69	91.03	91.37	91.70	92.04	92.13	92.22	92.31	92.40	92.49	92.58	92.67	92.76
Mali								11.31	11.17	11.04	10.91	10.78	13.33	13.40	13.47	13.53	13.60
Malta							81.83	82.49	83.14	83.80	84.45	85.10	85.76
Marshall Islands													89.41
Mauritania		34.65	33.50	32.35	31.19	30.04	28.89	27.74	26.59
Mauritius		52.45	53.55	54.65	55.75	56.85	57.95	59.05	60.15	61.25	62.35	63.45	64.55
Mexico		67.32	65.39	63.45	64.53	65.60	68.79	71.43	72.68	72.71	74.92	71.52	72.20	75.59	76.25	77.56	77.03
Mongolia		88.14	88.79	89.44	90.09	90.74	91.39	92.04	92.69	93.34	93.99	94.64
Montenegro					89.34	89.92	90.49	91.06	91.64	92.21	92.78	93.36	93.93
Morocco						13.84	14.92	16.00	17.08	18.16	18.57	24.30	30.03	32.75
Mozambique					18.81	19.20	19.59	19.98	20.37	20.76	21.15
Burma (Myanmar)		75.17	74.11	73.05	71.99	70.93	69.87	68.81	67.74	66.68	65.62	64.56	63.50	62.44	61.38	60.32	59.26	58.20
Namibia			53.82	51.94	50.07	48.19	46.31	44.44	42.56	46.10	49.64	53.18	56.72
Nepal			15.97	16.45	16.93	17.42	17.90	18.38	18.86	19.34	19.82	20.30	20.78
Nicaragua			45.97	46.78	47.60	48.42	49.23
Niger			2.11	5.47	8.84	12.21	15.57	14.24	12.92	11.59	10.26	8.93	7.60	6.27
Nigeria					21.04	21.14	21.25	21.35	21.45	21.56
Oman					16.31	16.02	15.73	15.45	15.16	14.87	19.08	23.29	25.38	27.47	29.56	31.65	35.05
Pakistan							20.52	24.36	24.97	25.59	24.85	24.85	23.98	25.50	24.51	25.29
Palau															98.34	91.53	84.72
West Bank and Gaza						35.18	37.93	40.69	42.80	36.47	47.09	49.07	48.50	52.81	56.72	58.33	60.99	63.93
Panama		75.58	76.11	76.64	77.17	77.70	78.23	78.75	79.28	79.81	80.34	80.87
Papua New Guinea		29.93
Paraguay									78.35	77.13	78.31	77.41	78.16	78.92	79.67	80.43	81.20
Peru						61.80	63.87	65.27	65.81	67.77	69.73	71.69	73.64	75.60	75.07	74.53	76.86	77.70
Philippines		78.41	82.26	86.10	89.95	89.26	88.57	87.88	87.19	86.50	87.23	87.96	88.69	89.42	90.15
Portugal													80.48
Puerto Rico												84.53
Qatar						40.99	45.31	49.63	53.95	61.88	56.46	66.34	73.71	84.69	80.69	78.91
Moldova		80.86	82.10	83.35	84.60	85.85	87.10	88.35	89.60	90.85	92.10	93.35	94.59	95.84
Romania				91.91	92.46	93.00	93.54	94.08	94.62	95.17	95.71	96.25	96.79
Russia				97.64	97.83	98.01	98.20	98.39	98.58	98.77	98.96	99.15
Rwanda		20.18	21.40	22.63	23.85	25.08	26.30	27.53	28.75	29.98	31.20	32.43	28.36	24.30
Samoa													96.31
Saint Thomas and Principe			40.42	41.28	42.13	42.99	43.84	44.70	45.55	46.40	47.20	47.99	48.78	49.58
Saudi Arabia		20.66	21.96	23.25	24.55	25.85	28.68	31.52	34.36	37.20	40.04	42.87	45.71	48.55	51.39
Senegal				14.30	15.37	16.44	17.51	18.58	21.17	23.76	26.35	25.72	25.09	23.28	21.46
Serbia													92.81	93.56	94.31	95.06	95.81	96.56
Seychelles				66.57	67.19	67.81	68.43	69.05	69.68	70.30	70.92	71.54
Sierra Leone						13.78	12.66	11.54	10.43	9.31	8.19	7.08	5.96	4.84	3.72
Singapore		60.31	61.85	63.39	64.94	66.48	68.02	69.56	71.10	72.64	74.18	75.72	77.39	79.05	80.72	82.38	84.05
South Africa									56.34	62.12	67.90	67.15	67.68	69.15	70.01	70.88	72.10
South Sudan										10.99
Spain						90.49	91.94	92.32	92.70	92.01	92.22	92.56	92.82	93.28	93.82	93.99	94.22	94.66
Sri Lanka			76.88	76.20	75.51	74.82	74.14	73.45	73.80	74.14	75.42	76.70
Sudan		28.07	27.60	27.12	26.65	26.17	25.69	25.22	24.74	24.27
Suriname						62.93	65.25	67.56	69.88	72.19	74.47	76.75	76.35	75.96
Swaziland		36.67	37.52	38.37	39.22	40.07	40.93	41.78	42.63	43.48	44.33	45.18
Syria				43.67	41.36	39.04
Tajikistan		95.10
Thailand		68.46	69.31	70.16	71.02	71.87	72.72	76.79	80.86	84.93	89.00	93.07	87.92	82.77	77.63	78.18	78.73
Macedonia (F.Y.R.O.M.)				82.52
Timor Leste												11.17
Togo		13.80	14.20	14.60	14.99	15.39	15.78	16.18	17.08	17.99	18.89	18.61	18.34	18.86	19.37	19.89	20.41
Tonga								98.03	98.20	98.36	98.53	98.70	98.86
Tunisia						19.66	20.21	20.76	21.31	20.83	22.08	23.33	24.32	25.97	32.87	39.77
Turkey						53.07	55.37	54.88	56.88	59.47	62.07	65.00	70.80	74.63	76.08	77.08	78.09
Uganda				29.92	30.77	31.62	32.47	33.32	33.60	33.89	34.17	34.46	35.27	36.08
Ukraine			97.50	97.73	97.95	98.17	98.39	98.62	98.84	99.06	99.29	99.51	99.73	99.95
United Arab Emirates							42.07
Tanzania				27.80	30.87	33.94	37.01	40.09	43.16	46.23	49.30	52.37	47.98	43.58	43.54	43.50	43.46
Uruguay								95.29	95.25	96.07	96.04	95.56	96.44	96.81	96.40	96.68	97.03
Uzbekistan		87.14	88.12	89.10	90.09	91.07	92.05	93.03	94.02	95.00	95.98	96.96	97.94	98.93	99.91	99.66	99.72
Venezuela			77.54	77.40	77.26	77.12	76.97	76.83	76.69	77.41	78.13	79.03	79.93	81.23	82.54	83.84	85.14	88.10
Vietnam		64.40	65.78	67.17	68.55	69.93	71.32	72.70	74.09	75.47	76.85
Zambia	38.61	41.14	43.67	46.19	46.96	47.73	48.50	49.27	50.04	50.81	51.58	52.34
Zimbabwe													59.01	66.38	73.75	81.13

Percentage of individuals aged 65 and over who can, with understanding, read and write a short, simple statement on their everyday life. Generally, “literacy” also encompasses “numeracy,” the ability to make simple arithmetic calculations. This indicator is calculated by dividing the number of literates aged 65 years and over by the corresponding age group population and multiplying the result by 100.

Source: UNESCO

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