Countries with the Lowest Adult Literacy Rates

About This Dataset

This chart shows the countries with the lowest adult literacy rates in the world, measured as the percentage of adults who can read and write, based on UNESCO and national data.

✨ AI Insight

Chad has the lowest adult literacy rate in this ranking at about 22.3 percent, meaning only around one in five adults can read and write. Niger follows at 30.6 percent and Mali at 35.5 percent, with every country in this group falling below 54 percent. All ten are in sub-Saharan Africa apart from Afghanistan, at 37.3 percent, highlighting how low literacy is heavily concentrated in the Sahel and conflict-affected regions. A cluster of countries, the Central African Republic, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Benin, sit between 37 and 43 percent, showing how widespread the challenge is across the region. These figures stand in sharp contrast to the near-universal literacy of wealthier nations and underline the strong link between literacy, development and access to schooling.

Source: Wikipedia / UNESCO (countries by literacy rate)

Key Findings

Auto-computed highlights from this dataset

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Mauritania leads with 54 in All Time.

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Average value in All Time: 39 · median: 38.

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Gap in All Time: Mauritania is 2.4× larger than Chad.