Countries by Literacy Rate 2026
Latvia leads all nations in literacy rate with 99.9%, compared to Chad at 22.3% — a 4.5-fold difference across 132 countries. The global median literacy rate is 96.8%, meaning half the world's nations fall below this threshold. The top-ranked country's literacy rate exceeds the global median by 3.2%, illustrating the substantial concentration found in the upper tier of this ranking. The spread between the 1st-ranked and last-ranked countries underscores the wide variation in literacy rate across nations at different stages of development. Data reflects UNESCO Institute for Statistics survey data.
| Rank↑ | Country↕ | %↕ |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Latvia | 99.9% |
| 2 |  Poland | 99.8% |
| 3 |  Estonia | 99.8% |
| #4 |  Lithuania | 99.8% |
| #5 |  Ukraine | 99.8% |
| #6 |  Belarus | 99.8% |
| #7 |  Azerbaijan | 99.8% |
| #8 |  Kazakhstan | 99.8% |
| #9 |  Tajikistan | 99.8% |
| #10 |  Cuba | 99.8% |
| #11 |  Slovenia | 99.7% |
| #12 |  Russia | 99.7% |
| #13 |  Armenia | 99.7% |
| #14 |  Turkmenistan | 99.7% |
| #15 |  Georgia | 99.6% |
| #16 |  Uzbekistan | 99.6% |
| #17 |  Kyrgyzstan | 99.5% |
| #18 |  Croatia | 99.3% |
| #19 |  South Korea | 99.2% |
| #20 |  Hungary | 99.1% |
| #21 |  Japan | 99.0% |
| #22 |  Finland | 99.0% |
| #23 |  Norway | 99.0% |
| #24 |  Iceland | 99.0% |
| #25 |  Denmark | 99.0% |
| #26 |  Sweden | 99.0% |
| #27 |  Switzerland | 99.0% |
| #28 |  Australia | 99.0% |
| #29 |  New Zealand | 99.0% |
| #30 |  Canada | 99.0% |
| #31 |  United Kingdom | 99.0% |
| #32 |  Germany | 99.0% |
| #33 |  France | 99.0% |
| #34 |  United States | 99.0% |
| #35 |  Netherlands | 99.0% |
| #36 |  Belgium | 99.0% |
| #37 |  Austria | 99.0% |
| #38 |  Ireland | 99.0% |
| #39 |  Luxembourg | 99.0% |
| #40 |  Italy | 99.0% |
| #41 |  Czechia | 99.0% |
| #42 |  Slovakia | 99.0% |
| #43 |  Argentina | 99.0% |
| #44 |  Trinidad and Tobago | 99.0% |
| #45 |  Romania | 98.8% |
| #46 |  Montenegro | 98.7% |
| #47 |  Uruguay | 98.7% |
| #48 |  Taiwan | 98.5% |
| #49 |  Spain | 98.4% |
| #50 |  Bulgaria | 98.4% |
| #51 |  Mongolia | 98.3% |
| #52 |  Philippines | 98.2% |
| #53 |  Jordan | 98.2% |
| #54 |  Serbia | 98.1% |
| #55 |  Albania | 98.1% |
| #56 |  Greece | 97.9% |
| #57 |  Costa Rica | 97.9% |
| #58 |  North Macedonia | 97.8% |
| #59 |  Israel | 97.8% |
| #60 |  Maldives | 97.7% |
| #61 |  Saudi Arabia | 97.6% |
| #62 |  United Arab Emirates | 97.6% |
| #63 |  Singapore | 97.5% |
| #64 |  Bahrain | 97.5% |
| #65 |  Venezuela | 97.1% |
| #66 |  Bosnia and Herzegovina | 97.0% |
| #67 |  China | 96.8% |
| #68 |  Turkey | 96.7% |
| #69 |  Kuwait | 96.5% |
| #70 |  Chile | 96.4% |
| #71 |  Portugal | 96.1% |
| #72 |  Hong Kong | 96.0% |
| #73 |  Indonesia | 96.0% |
| #74 |  Vietnam | 95.8% |
| #75 |  Oman | 95.7% |
| #76 |  Colombia | 95.6% |
| #77 |  Paraguay | 95.4% |
| #78 |  Panama | 95.4% |
| #79 |  Mexico | 95.2% |
| #80 |  Lebanon | 95.1% |
| #81 |  Malaysia | 95.0% |
| #82 |  South Africa | 95.0% |
| #83 |  Dominican Republic | 94.5% |
| #84 |  Peru | 94.4% |
| #85 |  Thailand | 93.8% |
| #86 |  Ecuador | 93.6% |
| #87 |  Qatar | 93.5% |
| #88 |  Brazil | 93.2% |
| #89 |  Bolivia | 92.5% |
| #90 |  Sri Lanka | 92.3% |
| #91 |  Namibia | 91.5% |
| #92 |  Libya | 91.0% |
| #93 |  Zimbabwe | 89.4% |
| #94 |  Myanmar | 89.1% |
| #95 |  El Salvador | 89.0% |
| #96 |  Jamaica | 88.7% |
| #97 |  Botswana | 88.5% |
| #98 |  Iran | 87.2% |
| #99 |  Honduras | 87.2% |
| #100 |  Zambia | 86.7% |
| #101 |  Iraq | 85.6% |
| #102 |  Laos | 84.7% |
| #103 |  Nicaragua | 82.6% |
| #104 |  Tunisia | 81.8% |
| #105 |  Kenya | 81.5% |
| #106 |  Algeria | 81.4% |
| #107 |  Guatemala | 81.3% |
| #108 |  Cambodia | 80.5% |
| #109 |  Ghana | 79.0% |
| #110 |  Tanzania | 78.0% |
| #111 |  Cameroon | 77.1% |
| #112 |  DR Congo | 77.0% |
| #113 |  Madagascar | 76.7% |
| #114 |  Uganda | 76.5% |
| #115 |  Bangladesh | 74.7% |
| #116 |  India | 74.4% |
| #117 |  Morocco | 73.8% |
| #118 |  Egypt | 73.1% |
| #119 |  Nepal | 67.9% |
| #120 |  Mozambique | 63.4% |
| #121 |  Malawi | 62.1% |
| #122 |  Nigeria | 62.0% |
| #123 |  Haiti | 61.7% |
| #124 |  Pakistan | 58.0% |
| #125 |  Senegal | 51.9% |
| #126 |  Ethiopia | 51.8% |
| #127 |  Ivory Coast | 47.2% |
| #128 |  Burkina Faso | 41.2% |
| #129 |  Central African Republic | 37.4% |
| #130 |  Mali | 35.5% |
| #131 |  Niger | 35.1% |
| #132 |  Chad | 22.3% |
Top Countries Analysis
Latvia (99.9%) leads all nations in literacy rate. The gap between Latvia and the 2nd-ranked Poland (99.8%) is 0.1%, a difference that reflects deep structural advantages rather than marginal variation. Poland itself sits 0.0% ahead of 3rd-ranked Estonia (99.8%), indicating that the top tier is not a cluster but a graduated hierarchy. Estonia leads 4th-placed Lithuania (99.8%) by 0.0%. Rounding out the top five, Ukraine records 99.8%, sitting 0.0% behind Lithuania. Collectively, these five countries account for 4.2% of the total literacy rate measured across all 132 ranked nations, highlighting how concentrated this metric is at the top of the distribution.
Global Distribution
The median literacy rate across all 132 countries is 96.8%, meaning half the world's nations fall below this threshold. The mean literacy rate of 89.5% is below the median, indicating a left-skewed distribution driven by low-value outliers pulling the average away from the center of the distribution. The interquartile range spans from 99.0% at the 25th percentile to 86.7% at the 75th percentile, a -12.4% spread that captures the typical variation among the middle half of all ranked countries. Countries at the 25th percentile, represented by United States (99.0%), stand substantially below the median, while countries near the 75th percentile, such as Zambia (86.7%), approach the upper quarter of the ranking. This distributional shape has important implications for global policy comparisons: simple averages overstate the typical country's literacy rate when the distribution is right-skewed, and the median provides a more representative benchmark for most nations.
Regional Breakdown
Regional patterns in literacy rate are pronounced. Other accounts for 6 of the top 10 countries by literacy rate, led by Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania. The full top-10 regional distribution is: Other: 6, Europe: 3, Americas: 1. At the other end of the ranking, Africa represents 7 of the bottom 10 countries, including Senegal, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast. The bottom-10 regional breakdown is: Africa: 7, Americas: 1, Asia: 1, Other: 1. These geographic concentrations reflect underlying structural factors including historical development trajectories, geographic endowments, and regional integration, rather than any single policy variable.
Bottom of the Rankings
Chad's literacy rate of 22.3% is 77.0% below the global median of 96.8%. Niger's literacy rate of 35.1% is 63.7% below the global median of 96.8%. Mali's literacy rate of 35.5% is 63.3% below the global median of 96.8%. The bottom of the literacy rate ranking is predominantly shaped by countries where limited school infrastructure, gender barriers to education, and prolonged conflict have restricted learning access. These low positions do not necessarily reflect recent decline; in many cases they represent long-standing structural conditions that change slowly. Policy interventions, international aid, and regional cooperation have produced meaningful improvements in some bottom-ranked countries over the past two decades, even when those improvements are not yet sufficient to move them out of the lowest tier.
Data Methodology
Adult literacy rate measures the percentage of people aged 15 and older who can both read and write a short, simple statement about their everyday life with understanding. Data originates from national population censuses and household surveys, compiled and harmonized by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). Because literacy surveys are infrequent, many country-level estimates are several years or more out of date, and the World Bank and UIS apply model-based interpolation to fill gaps. Literacy definitions vary slightly across countries, which can affect cross-country comparability. Countries with near-universal primary education for several decades typically report literacy rates above 97%, while countries with histories of conflict, limited school access, or gender inequality in education may report substantially lower rates. Functional literacy, which measures the ability to use written information in daily tasks, is a more demanding standard and generally produces lower estimates.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which country has the highest literacy rate?
Latvia has the highest literacy rate among all ranked countries, at 99.9%. This places it 0.1% ahead of 2nd-ranked Poland (99.8%). The gap between the top-ranked country and the global median of 96.8% is 3.2%, underscoring how far Latvia exceeds the typical nation on this measure. Data is sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators database.
What is the global average literacy rate?
The global mean literacy rate across all 132 ranked countries is 89.5%. However, the mean is below the median of 96.8%, indicating the distribution is left-skewed by low-value outliers. For most comparative purposes, the median is a more representative central value because it is not distorted by extreme top or bottom observations. The 25th percentile sits at 99.0% and the 75th percentile at 86.7%.
How many countries are ranked by literacy rate?
This ranking includes 132 countries for which sufficient literacy rate data is available from the World Bank World Development Indicators database. Countries are excluded when data is missing for the most recent available year, which can occur for small territories, countries in conflict, or states with limited statistical capacity. The full global count of UN member states is 193, and additional territories may be included or excluded depending on data availability for each specific indicator. Rankings are updated as new World Bank data is released, typically on an annual cycle.
What is the literacy rate of the lowest-ranked country?
Chad records the lowest literacy rate among all 132 ranked countries, at 22.3%. This is 77.0% below the global median of 96.8%. The gap between the highest-ranked country (Latvia at 99.9%) and Chad represents a 4.5-fold difference, illustrating the extraordinary breadth of global variation in literacy rate. Low-ranked countries on most indicators face structural constraints including limited infrastructure, historical underdevelopment, or geographic disadvantage.
How does literacy rate vary across regions?
Regional variation in literacy rate is substantial. Among the top 10 countries, the dominant regions are Other (6 countries), Europe (3 countries), Americas (1 countries). Other holds the largest share with 6 countries in the top 10. Among the bottom 10, the most represented regions are Africa (7 countries), Americas (1 countries), Asia (1 countries), with Africa accounting for 7 of those positions. These regional concentrations reflect accumulated differences in economic development, geographic endowments, governance quality, and integration into global trade networks. Regional averages should be interpreted carefully, as within-region variation can be as wide as cross-region variation for many indicators.
Related Rankings
Data: World Bank Open Data · Last updated March 2026 · 132 countries ranked