Adult illiterate population, 15+ years, female (number) by country

Name: Adult illiterate population, 15+ years, female (number)
Creator: UNESCO Institute for Statistics
License: CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)

Total number of females over age 15 who cannot both read and write with understanding a short simple statement on their everyday life.

Countries reporting

Highest

162.78 million number

India

Lowest

179 number

Tonga

Median

730,194 number

Years covered

1970–2019

Data points

2,268

What the numbers show

Adult illiterate population, 15+ years, female (number) is currently reported for 87 countries. The highest value is 162.78 million number in India; the lowest is 179 number in Tonga.

The median across all reporting countries is 730,194 number, and the mean is 4.57 million number.

Over the past decade 29 countries rose and 58 fell. The largest increase was in Uzbekistan (up 269.7%), and the largest decrease in Greece (down 69.4%).

Adult illiterate population, 15+ years, female: full country ranking

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	India	162.78 million number	2018	down 13.1%	flat
2	Pakistan	35.03 million number	2017	up 14.5%	rising
3	China	27.90 million number	2018	down 30.0%	volatile
4	Nigeria	25.86 million number	2018	up 5.2%	rising
5	Ethiopia	17.51 million number	2017	up 11.6%	rising
6	Bangladesh	16.51 million number	2019	down 36.8%	falling
7	Egypt	11.01 million number	2017	up 1.9%	rising
8	Indonesia	5.90 million number	2018	down 35.3%	falling
9	Iran	5.76 million number	2016	down 1.5%	falling
10	Brazil	5.56 million number	2018	down 22.0%	falling
11	Morocco	4.74 million number	2018	down 28.1%	flat
12	Nepal	4.46 million number	2018	down 4.7%	rising
13	Cote d'Ivoire	4.27 million number	2018	up 2.8%	rising
14	Mozambique	4.14 million number	2017	down 1.6%	rising
15	Tanzania	3.88 million number	2015	up 3.3%	rising
16	Mali	3.76 million number	2018	up 29.2%	rising
17	Burkina Faso	3.73 million number	2018	up 19.5%	rising
18	Algeria	3.62 million number	2018	down 10.7%	falling
19	Uganda	3.43 million number	2018	up 21.5%	rising
20	Chad	3.30 million number	2016	up 61.0%	rising
21	South Africa	2.80 million number	2017	up 23.1%	falling
22	Senegal	2.78 million number	2017	up 23.3%	rising
23	Mexico	2.59 million number	2018	down 24.2%	falling
24	Vietnam	2.39 million number	2018	down 17.6%	falling
25	Benin	2.31 million number	2018	up 20.8%	rising
26	Iraq	2.31 million number	2017	down 21.3%	rising
27	Thailand	2.26 million number	2018	up 125.9%	falling
28	Madagascar	2.17 million number	2018	down 2.8%	rising
29	Malawi	2.12 million number	2015	up 8.2%	rising
30	Cameroon	2.07 million number	2018	up 5.6%	rising
31	Turkey	2.03 million number	2017	down 58.1%	falling
32	Cambodia	1.38 million number	2015	down 10.3%	flat
33	Guatemala	1.23 million number	2014	down 7.3%	rising
34	Tunisia	1.20 million number	2014	down 7.5%	falling
35	Burundi	1.17 million number	2017	down 9.2%	rising
36	Rwanda	1.16 million number	2018	down 0.0%	rising
37	Togo	1.05 million number	2015	up 12.1%	rising
38	Peru	996,506 number	2018	down 34.3%	falling
39	Central African Republic	984,428 number	2018	up 3.8%	rising
40	Colombia	921,657 number	2018	down 14.3%	falling
41	Zambia	828,427 number	2018	down 49.2%	falling
42	Sri Lanka	781,235 number	2018	down 7.0%	falling
43	Malaysia	756,355 number	2018	down 16.8%	falling
44	Saudi Arabia	730,194 number	2017	down 51.4%	falling
45	Philippines	610,055 number	2015	down 63.6%	falling
46	Ecuador	479,366 number	2017	up 7.7%	falling
47	Laos	462,931 number	2015	down 28.5%	flat
48	Honduras	421,442 number	2018	up 5.9%	flat
49	Bolivia	420,504 number	2015	down 2.5%	falling
50	Spain	414,307 number	2018	down 33.5%	falling
51	El Salvador	326,557 number	2018	down 21.5%	falling
52	Venezuela	304,369 number	2016	down 36.8%	falling
53	Chile	277,038 number	2017	up 86.0%	falling
54	Dominican Republic	233,279 number	2016	down 37.3%	falling
55	Portugal	233,247 number	2018	down 31.3%	falling
56	Argentina	162,623 number	2018	up 4.6%	volatile
57	Paraguay	156,402 number	2018	up 5.2%	falling
58	Greece	120,909 number	2018	down 69.4%	falling
59	Singapore	97,918 number	2018	down 25.3%	falling
60	Oman	81,852 number	2018	down 44.4%	falling
61	Panama	78,385 number	2018	down 6.9%	rising
62	Jordan	70,312 number	2018	down 66.3%	falling
63	Namibia	69,386 number	2018	down 50.8%	falling
64	Palestine	62,599 number	2018	down 36.1%	falling
65	Kuwait	62,161 number	2018	down 5.2%	falling
66	Mauritius	56,398 number	2018	down 15.5%	falling
67	Eswatini	41,960 number	2018	down 31.5%	falling
68	Albania	26,296 number	2018	down 57.1%	rising
69	Qatar	25,509 number	2017	up 11.7%	rising
70	Bahrain	21,369 number	2018	down 43.4%	falling
71	Kazakhstan	18,023 number	2018	down 11.1%	volatile
72	Moldova	15,494 number	2014	down 62.3%	volatile
73	Suriname	15,376 number	2018	up 36.2%	falling
74	Uruguay	14,253 number	2018	down 31.6%	volatile
75	Macao	13,929 number	2016	down 32.0%	rising
76	Vanuatu	11,892 number	2018	down 17.3%	falling
77	Azerbaijan	10,764 number	2017	down 48.6%	volatile
78	Malta	7,572 number	2018	down 31.3%	falling
79	Sao Tome and Principe	6,401 number	2018	down 67.3%	falling
80	Brunei	5,850 number	2018	down 22.7%	falling
81	Montenegro	4,542 number	2018	down 29.9%	volatile
82	Maldives	2,617 number	2016	up 54.1%	volatile
83	Uzbekistan	1,660 number	2018	up 269.7%	volatile
84	Seychelles	1,316 number	2018	down 30.3%	falling
85	Grenada	582 number	2014	up 11.7%	falling
86	Barbados	487 number	2014	up 5.9%	falling
87	Tonga	179 number	2018	down 39.1%	rising

Regions and income groups

Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.

World 484.99 million number
IDA & IBRD total 465.33 million number
Low & middle income 464.58 million number
Middle income 372.87 million number
Lower middle income 307.63 million number
Early-demographic dividend 299.02 million number
IBRD only 255.80 million number
South Asia 226.94 million number
South Asia (IDA & IBRD) 226.94 million number
IDA total 209.56 million number
IDA only 138.27 million number
Least developed countries 133.26 million number
Sub-Saharan Africa 133.02 million number
Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD countries) 133.02 million number
Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) 132.97 million number
Pre-demographic dividend 121.31 million number
Heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) 103.53 million number
Low income 91.71 million number
IDA blend 71.26 million number
Upper middle income 65.24 million number
East Asia & Pacific 54.71 million number
Arab World 47.09 million number
East Asia & Pacific (IDA & IBRD countries) 46.91 million number
East Asia & Pacific (excluding high income) 46.91 million number
Late-demographic dividend 46.48 million number
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan 41.81 million number
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan (excluding high income) 40.45 million number
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan (IDA & IBRD) 40.39 million number
Latin America & Caribbean 15.38 million number
Latin America & the Caribbean (IDA & IBRD countries) 15.25 million number
Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) 14.91 million number
Europe & Central Asia 8.10 million number
Europe & Central Asia (IDA & IBRD countries) 2.83 million number
Europe & Central Asia (excluding high income) 2.40 million number
Small states 2.03 million number
Other small states 1.75 million number
Central Europe and the Baltics 594,112 number
Caribbean Small States 192,314 number
Pacific island small states 85,867 number

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Adult illiterate population, 15+ years, female by country. Statizoid, drawing on UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 27 August 2026, from https://education.statizoid.com/stat/adult-illiterate-population-15-years-female-number/

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About this data

Indicator: Adult illiterate population, 15+ years, female (number)
Unit: number
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage: 126 places, 2,268 data points, 1970–2019
Last refreshed: 21 August 2026

Total number of females over age 15 who cannot both read and write with understanding a short simple statement on their everyday life.