Adult illiterate population, 15+ years, female (number) by country
February 2026 Data Release
Countries reporting
59
Highest
128.19 million
India
Lowest
2
Uzbekistan
Median
565,490
Years covered
36
1989–2024
Data points
6,969
What the numbers show
Adult illiterate population, 15+ years, female (number) is currently reported for 59 countries. The highest value is 128.19 million in India; the lowest is 2 in Uzbekistan.
The median across all reporting countries is 565,490, and the mean is 4.45 million.
Over the past decade 19 countries rose and 39 fell. The largest increase was in Jordan (up 456.4%), and the largest decrease in Uzbekistan (down 99.6%).
Adult illiterate population, 15+ years, female: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 128.19 million | 2023 | down 23.4% | falling |
| 2 | Pakistan | 37.11 million | 2019 | up 10.3% | rising |
| 3 | Bangladesh | 14.51 million | 2022 | down 39.6% | falling |
| 4 | Egypt | 11.63 million | 2017 | up 3.4% | flat |
| 5 | Iran | 6.00 million | 2016 | down 0.2% | falling |
| 6 | Morocco | 5.67 million | 2014 | down 7.8% | falling |
| 7 | Brazil | 5.55 million | 2018 | down 14.9% | falling |
| 8 | Indonesia | 5.53 million | 2020 | down 38.1% | falling |
| 9 | Mozambique | 4.53 million | 2020 | up 10.9% | rising |
| 10 | Burkina Faso | 4.40 million | 2019 | up 35.2% | rising |
| 11 | Mali | 3.87 million | 2018 | up 29.2% | rising |
| 12 | Uganda | 3.60 million | 2014 | up 35.5% | rising |
| 13 | Guinea | 2.70 million | 2018 | up 3.0% | rising |
| 14 | Senegal | 2.70 million | 2017 | up 20.7% | rising |
| 15 | Mexico | 2.66 million | 2020 | down 19.7% | falling |
| 16 | Iraq | 2.39 million | 2017 | down 22.1% | flat |
| 17 | South Africa | 2.24 million | 2024 | up 56.0% | falling |
| 18 | Thailand | 2.19 million | 2018 | up 125.3% | rising |
| 19 | Vietnam | 1.92 million | 2022 | down 33.6% | falling |
| 20 | Turkey | 1.53 million | 2021 | down 42.5% | falling |
| 21 | Guatemala | 1.29 million | 2018 | down 0.6% | rising |
| 22 | Tunisia | 1.19 million | 2019 | down 2.9% | falling |
| 23 | Burundi | 1.17 million | 2017 | down 11.4% | rising |
| 24 | Togo | 1.11 million | 2019 | up 3.5% | rising |
| 25 | Peru | 978,253 | 2020 | down 0.6% | falling |
| 26 | Cambodia | 890,626 | 2019 | down 41.2% | falling |
| 27 | Colombia | 826,913 | 2020 | down 23.3% | falling |
| 28 | Sri Lanka | 745,376 | 2024 | up 1.9% | falling |
| 29 | Malaysia | 668,170 | 2022 | down 26.2% | falling |
| 30 | Philippines | 565,490 | 2020 | down 36.1% | falling |
| 31 | Laos | 462,470 | 2015 | down 26.3% | falling |
| 32 | Honduras | 372,561 | 2019 | down 4.4% | flat |
| 33 | Venezuela | 313,885 | 2016 | down 35.3% | falling |
| 34 | Saudi Arabia | 308,603 | 2024 | down 49.1% | volatile |
| 35 | Jordan | 304,149 | 2024 | up 456.4% | rising |
| 36 | El Salvador | 299,776 | 2024 | down 15.3% | falling |
| 37 | Ecuador | 285,112 | 2022 | down 41.4% | falling |
| 38 | Bolivia | 282,190 | 2023 | up 0.9% | falling |
| 39 | Chile | 276,183 | 2017 | up 15.0% | flat |
| 40 | Dominican Republic | 224,029 | 2024 | down 18.5% | falling |
| 41 | East Timor | 150,742 | 2022 | up 4.4% | flat |
| 42 | Paraguay | 135,394 | 2020 | up 0.1% | flat |
| 43 | Spain | 84,663 | 2021 | down 85.7% | falling |
| 44 | Panama | 71,760 | 2019 | down 13.8% | falling |
| 45 | Oman | 64,506 | 2022 | down 54.8% | falling |
| 46 | Singapore | 61,969 | 2021 | down 31.1% | falling |
| 47 | Kuwait | 60,446 | 2020 | down 9.2% | falling |
| 48 | Palestine | 53,518 | 2022 | down 36.3% | falling |
| 49 | Mauritius | 46,532 | 2016 | down 32.0% | falling |
| 50 | United Arab Emirates | 45,432 | 2024 | down 35.9% | falling |
| 51 | Serbia | 27,288 | 2022 | down 73.9% | volatile |
| 52 | Bahrain | 16,936 | 2024 | — | falling |
| 53 | Uruguay | 13,570 | 2022 | down 28.0% | falling |
| 54 | Azerbaijan | 11,100 | 2023 | up 4.9% | falling |
| 55 | Georgia | 6,187 | 2024 | down 24.1% | falling |
| 56 | Armenia | 3,271 | 2020 | down 19.6% | volatile |
| 57 | Qatar | 2,726 | 2024 | down 70.5% | volatile |
| 58 | Maldives | 2,464 | 2016 | up 55.9% | falling |
| 59 | Uzbekistan | 2 | 2022 | down 99.6% | volatile |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- SDG: World 466.26 million
- UIS: World 466.26 million
- MDG: World 466.26 million
- WB: World 466.26 million
- UNICEF: World 465.86 million
- MDG: Developing Regions 453.43 million
- UNICEF: All Unicef Countries 453.34 million
- WB: Ida & Ibrd Total 452.45 million
- WB: Low & Middle Income (july 2025) 451.84 million
- WB: Middle Income (july 2025) 355.04 million
- ESCAP: Wb Lower Middle Income Economies (wb_lower_mid) (unsdcode:98438) 301.32 million
- WB: Lower Middle Income (july 2025) 296.59 million
- WB: Early-demographic Dividend 287.31 million
- ESCAP: All Countries (unsdcode:98400) 269.00 million
- AIMS: Asia and the Pacific 267.55 million
- GPE: Overall Fy24, All 90 Countries, December 2024 243.05 million
- WB: Ibrd Only 233.97 million
- ESCAP: South and South-west Asia (sswa) (unsdcode:98420) 223.65 million
- SDG: Central and Southern Asia 222.31 million
- AIMS: South and West Asia 222.26 million
- MDG: Southern Asia 222.26 million
- SDG: Southern Asia 222.26 million
- UIS: South and West Asia 222.26 million
- WB: Global Partnership for Education (july 2019) 218.82 million
- WB: Ida Total 218.47 million
- ESCAP: Saarc (saarc) (unsdcode:98428) 217.47 million
- UNICEF: South Asia 217.47 million
- GPE: Fragile or Conflict-affected Countries (fcac) Fy24, December 2024 174.54 million
- WB: South Asia 171.17 million
- WB: South Asia (ida & Ibrd) 171.17 million
- ECA: African Union Commission (unsdcode:98106) 164.62 million
- ECA: All Countries (unsdcode:98100) 164.62 million
- ESCAP: Africa (afr) (unsdcode:98405) 164.62 million
- UNICEF: Africa 164.62 million
- MDG: Sub-saharan Africa 142.55 million
- UNICEF: Sub-saharan Africa 142.55 million
- WB: Sub-saharan Africa 142.55 million
- WB: Sub-saharan Africa (ida & Ibrd) 142.55 million
- WB: Sub-saharan Africa (excluding High Income) 142.54 million
- ECA: Sub-saharan Africa (unsdcode:98126) 142.00 million
About this data
February 2026 Data Release