Youth Literacy Rate by Country 2026: Statistics & Charts
Youth literacy is measured as the share of people ages 15–24 who can read and write a short simple statement with understanding. The 2026 page year uses the latest available UNESCO UIS values published through the World Bank WDI indicator SE.ADT.1524.LT.ZS; source years vary by country.
Executive Snapshot
Values are latest available source readings, not 2026 measurements.
World youth literacy rate, latest aggregate source year 2024.
Countries and economies with recent source-year values from 2020–2024 in the main table.
Countries and economies with any reported value in the broader WDI / UIS country series.
World aggregate change from 86.72% in 2000 to 93.11% in 2024.
Lowest Recent-Source Youth Literacy Rates
Countries with the lowest reported values among 2020–2024 source years.
The chart uses the same recent-source coverage as the main table. Older source-year readings are excluded from this visual ranking.
Youth Literacy Rate by Country
Recent-source country table using latest available values with source years from 2020 to 2024.
| Rank | Country | ISO3 | Youth literacy | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Marino | SMR | 100.00% | 2022 |
| 2 | Uzbekistan | UZB | 100.00% | 2022 |
| 3 | Palau | PLW | 100.00% | 2020 |
| 4 | Tuvalu | TUV | 100.00% | 2022 |
| 5 | Romania | ROU | 99.94% | 2021 |
| 6 | Turks and Caicos Islands | TCA | 99.94% | 2020 |
| 7 | Russian Federation | RUS | 99.92% | 2021 |
| 8 | Turkmenistan | TKM | 99.90% | 2022 |
| 9 | Saudi Arabia | SAU | 99.89% | 2024 |
| 10 | Armenia | ARM | 99.89% | 2023 |
| 11 | Singapore | SGP | 99.89% | 2021 |
| 12 | Azerbaijan | AZE | 99.88% | 2023 |
| 13 | Mauritius | MUS | 99.80% | 2023 |
| 14 | Bolivia | BOL | 99.78% | 2024 |
| 15 | Philippines | PHL | 99.77% | 2022 |
| 16 | China | CHN | 99.76% | 2020 |
| 17 | Serbia | SRB | 99.74% | 2022 |
| 18 | Spain | ESP | 99.73% | 2021 |
| 19 | Tonga | TON | 99.72% | 2023 |
| 20 | Argentina | ARG | 99.68% | 2020 |
| 21 | Georgia | GEO | 99.66% | 2024 |
| 22 | Oman | OMN | 99.66% | 2022 |
| 23 | United Arab Emirates | ARE | 99.61% | 2024 |
| 24 | Bahrain | BHR | 99.52% | 2024 |
| 25 | Peru | PER | 99.49% | 2024 |
Data analysis notes
The table is ranked by the latest reported youth literacy rate among countries with source years from 2020 through 2024. The broader source series contains 172 countries and economies with at least one reported value, but older readings are not mixed into the main ranking.
Long-Run Global Trend
World and regional aggregates use WDI / UIS weighted series where available.
World Youth Literacy Rate Since 2000
Selected anchor years from the World Bank WDI / UNESCO UIS aggregate series.
The world aggregate rose by 6.39 percentage points between 2000 and 2024 in the reported WDI / UIS series.
| Region / aggregate | 2000 | 2010 | 2020 | Latest | Latest year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World | 86.72% | 89.68% | 92.64% | 93.11% | 2024 |
| East Asia & Pacific | 97.66% | 98.47% | 98.98% | 99.10% | 2024 |
| Europe & Central Asia | 99.05% | 99.48% | 99.75% | 99.77% | 2023 |
| Latin America & Caribbean | 95.02% | 97.32% | 98.51% | 98.68% | 2024 |
| South Asia | 74.00% | 84.40% | 95.46% | 96.88% | 2024 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 66.80% | 69.85% | 78.04% | 78.98% | 2024 |
Source and Methodology
Source years are shown because literacy values often come from census or household survey rounds rather than annual testing.
Main data source
World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator SE.ADT.1524.LT.ZS, sourced from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Indicator definition
Youth literacy rate is the percentage of people ages 15–24 who can read and write a short simple statement with understanding.
Coverage rule
The main country table uses recent-source values from 2020–2024. The broader source extraction found 172 countries and economies with any reported year.
Rounding
Country values are displayed to two decimal places. Sorting uses the unrounded numeric value where available.
Methodological Safety Note
Ranking is limited to the selected indicator and selected source-year coverage. A literacy rate is not a full measure of education quality, school completion, reading proficiency, or learning outcomes. Countries without recent UNESCO UIS / WDI values are not assigned estimated values in this table.