List of countries by literacy rate
Territory Literacy rate ( all ) Male literacy Female literacy Gender difference Year Notes
Aruba 97.5% 97.5% 97.5% 0.0% 2015 A constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Cayman Islands 98.9% 98.7% 99.0% -0.3% 2007 An overseas territory of the United Kingdom
Guadeloupe 96.5% 96.4% 96.6% -0.2% 2015 Overseas region/department of France
Guam 99.8% 99.8% 99.8% 0.0% 2015 An unincorporated and organized territory of the United States
Kosovo 91.9% 96.6% 87.5% 9.1% 2003 Member of two UN specialized agencies ( World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund ) . It is claimed by Serbia
Macau 96.2% 98.0% 94.6% 3.4% 2015 A special administrative region of China
Martinique 97.0% 97.6% 96.4% 1.2% 2015 Overseas region/department of France
New Caledonia 96.9% 97.3% 96.5% 0.8% 2015 Overseas region/department of France
Puerto Rico 93.3% 92.8% 93.8% -1.0% 2015 Unincorporated territory of the United States
Réunion 93.9% 93.2% 94.5% -1.3% 2015 Overseas region/department of France
Taiwan 98.70% 99.73% 97.69% 2.05% 2017 Taiwan-Penghu-Kinmen-Matsu Area
List of other states and territories
This is a list of countries by literacy rate. The figures represented are almost entirely collected by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) on behalf of UNESCO with 2015 estimates based on people aged 15 or over who can read and write. Where data is taken from a different source, notes are provided. The data is collated by mostly using surveys within the last ten years which are self-declared by the persons in question. UIS provide estimates based on these for the year 2015 with a Global Age-specific Literacy Projections Model (GALP). The global literacy rate for all people aged 15 and above is 86.3%. The global literacy rate for all males is 90.0% and the rate for all females is 82.7%. The rate varies throughout the world with developed nations having a rate of 99.2% (2013); Oceania having 71.3%; South and West Asia having 70.2% (2015) and sub-Saharan Africa at 64.0% (2015). Over 75% of the world's 781 million illiterate adults are found in South Asia, West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa and women represent almost two-thirds of all illiterate adults globally.