Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over)
Definition
Share of people aged 15 and over who can both read and write, with understanding, a short simple statement about everyday life. UIS data, republished by the World Bank.
- Formula
- Literate people aged 15 and over / population aged 15 and over × 100.
- Unit
- %
- License
- CC-BY-4.0
Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over)
- Brazil
- Argentina
- Chile
- Colombia
- Mexico
- Latin America & Caribbean
- World
- Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over)
- Source: World Bank — World Development Indicators · Source version: 2026-10-08 · Collected on: 2026-11-01 · License: CC-BY-4.0
Download data (CSV) · View the code: collection code · chart.ts
View the data as a table
| Year | Brazil | Argentina | Chile | Colombia | Mexico | Latin America & Caribbean | World |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | – | – | – | – | – | 78.2 | 65.4 |
| 1976 | – | – | – | – | – | 78.6 | 65.6 |
| 1977 | – | – | – | – | – | 79.0 | 65.9 |
| 1978 | – | – | – | – | – | 79.4 | 66.5 |
| 1979 | – | – | – | – | – | 79.9 | 67.2 |
| 1980 | 74.6 | 93.9 | – | – | 83.0 | 80.2 | 67.8 |
| 1981 | – | – | – | – | – | 80.6 | 68.3 |
| 1982 | – | – | 91.1 | – | – | 81.0 | 68.9 |
| 1983 | – | – | – | – | – | 81.4 | 69.5 |
| 1984 | – | – | – | – | – | 81.8 | 70.2 |
| 1985 | – | – | – | – | – | 82.1 | 70.7 |
| 1986 | – | – | – | – | – | 82.5 | 71.3 |
| 1987 | – | – | – | – | – | 82.8 | 71.9 |
| 1988 | – | – | – | – | – | 83.2 | 73.6 |
| 1989 | – | – | – | – | – | 83.7 | 74.1 |
| 1990 | – | – | – | – | 87.6 | 84.0 | 74.6 |
| 1991 | – | 96.0 | – | – | – | 84.7 | 75.1 |
| 1992 | – | – | 94.3 | – | – | 85.3 | 75.5 |
| 1993 | – | – | – | 91.1 | – | 86.0 | 76.0 |
| 1994 | – | – | – | – | – | 86.6 | 76.4 |
| 1995 | – | – | – | – | – | 87.3 | 76.9 |
| 1996 | – | – | – | 91.2 | – | 87.7 | 77.3 |
| 1997 | – | – | – | – | – | 87.9 | 79.3 |
| 1998 | – | – | – | – | – | 88.3 | 80.5 |
| 1999 | – | – | – | – | – | 88.6 | 80.9 |
| 2000 | 86.4 | – | – | – | 90.5 | 88.9 | 81.1 |
| 2001 | – | 97.2 | – | – | – | 89.1 | 81.4 |
| 2002 | – | – | 95.7 | – | 90.3 | 89.4 | 81.7 |
| 2003 | – | – | – | – | – | 90.1 | 82.2 |
| 2004 | 88.6 | – | – | 92.8 | 90.9 | 90.4 | 82.6 |
| 2005 | – | – | – | 92.8 | 91.6 | 90.4 | 82.6 |
| 2006 | 89.6 | – | – | 92.3 | 91.7 | 90.6 | 82.5 |
| 2007 | 90.0 | – | – | 92.7 | 92.8 | 91.4 | 83.1 |
| 2008 | 90.0 | – | – | 93.4 | 92.9 | 91.7 | 83.5 |
| 2009 | 90.3 | – | – | 93.2 | 93.4 | 91.9 | 83.8 |
| 2010 | 90.4 | – | – | 93.4 | 93.1 | 91.8 | 84.4 |
| 2011 | 91.4 | – | 96.7 | 93.6 | 93.5 | 92.5 | 84.7 |
| 2012 | 91.3 | – | – | – | 94.2 | 92.8 | 84.9 |
| 2013 | 91.5 | – | 96.3 | – | 94.0 | 92.8 | 85.2 |
| 2014 | 91.7 | – | – | 94.2 | 94.6 | 93.3 | 85.6 |
| 2015 | 92.1 | – | 96.9 | 94.3 | 94.5 | 93.4 | 86.0 |
| 2016 | 92.8 | – | – | 94.7 | 94.9 | 93.9 | 86.3 |
| 2017 | 93.1 | – | 96.4 | 94.9 | 95.0 | 93.9 | 86.5 |
| 2018 | 93.2 | – | – | 95.1 | 95.4 | 94.1 | 86.8 |
| 2019 | 93.9 | – | – | 95.3 | 95.4 | 94.3 | 86.8 |
| 2020 | 94.7 | 99.1 | – | 95.6 | 95.3 | 94.3 | 87.0 |
| 2021 | 94.8 | – | – | 95.7 | 95.7 | 94.5 | 87.2 |
| 2022 | 94.4 | – | – | 95.3 | 95.1 | 94.7 | 87.4 |
| 2023 | 94.6 | – | – | 95.5 | 95.8 | 94.8 | 87.6 |
| 2024 | 94.7 | – | – | 95.3 | 95.6 | 94.9 | 87.7 |
Criticisms of the metric
- Literacy is usually self-reported in household surveys, not tested, and definitions vary across countries and over time. It does not measure functional literacy.
References
- World Bank. World Development Indicators — metadata for SE.ADT.LITR.ZS. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS
- UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Education and science data: methodology. https://uis.unesco.org/