Literacy rates among adults in Brazil
Brazil: Literacy rates among adults was 94.7% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Literacy rates among adults in Brazil, 1980–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Brazil recorded 94.7% for literacy rates among adults in 2024.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 0.2% on the previous year and up 3.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, literacy rates among adults in Brazil peaked at 94.8% in 2021 and was at its lowest, 74.6%, in 1980.
Brazil ranks 37th of 89 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 22 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 74.6% | 74.6% | 74.6% | 1 |
| 2000s | 89.2% | 86.4% | 90.3% | 6 |
| 2010s | 92.1% | 90.4% | 93.9% | 10 |
| 2020s | 94.6% | 94.4% | 94.8% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Brazil
More education data for Brazil
- Duration of pre-primary education 2 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 4 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 69.1% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 19.4% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 11 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 104.3% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 696,748 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.61 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 104.3% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is literacy rates among adults in Brazil?
- Literacy rates among adults in Brazil was 94.7% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest literacy rates among adults recorded in Brazil?
- The highest recorded value was 94.8% in 2021.
- What is the lowest literacy rates among adults recorded in Brazil?
- The lowest recorded value was 74.6% in 1980.
- How does Brazil rank for literacy rates among adults?
- Brazil ranks 37th out of 89 countries with data for 2024.
- Is literacy rates among adults rising or falling in Brazil?
- Over the last ten years it is up 3.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Brazil data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Literacy rates among adults. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 22 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Share of the population aged 15 years and older who can read and write.