Youth illiterate population, 15-24 years, male (number) by country
February 2026 Data Release
Countries reporting
58
Highest
4.79 million
Pakistan
Lowest
0
Saudi Arabia
Median
32,114
Years covered
55
1970–2024
Data points
8,089
What the numbers show
Youth illiterate population, 15-24 years, male (number) is currently reported for 58 countries. The highest value is 4.79 million in Pakistan; the lowest is 0 in Saudi Arabia.
The median across all reporting countries is 32,114, and the mean is 274,363.
Over the past decade 17 countries rose and 39 fell. The largest increase was in Azerbaijan (up 336.9%), and the largest decrease in Saudi Arabia (down 100.0%).
Youth illiterate population, 15-24 years, male: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pakistan | 4.79 million | 2019 | up 11.1% | flat |
| 2 | India | 2.69 million | 2023 | down 77.4% | volatile |
| 3 | Bangladesh | 1.18 million | 2022 | down 67.5% | volatile |
| 4 | Burkina Faso | 1.00 million | 2019 | up 24.1% | rising |
| 5 | Egypt | 971,334 | 2017 | down 7.8% | falling |
| 6 | Mali | 821,005 | 2018 | up 9.0% | rising |
| 7 | Mozambique | 718,989 | 2020 | up 61.4% | rising |
| 8 | Uganda | 702,424 | 2014 | up 106.6% | rising |
| 9 | Guinea | 401,791 | 2018 | down 39.2% | rising |
| 10 | Senegal | 369,308 | 2017 | down 25.4% | rising |
| 11 | Morocco | 223,388 | 2014 | down 62.5% | falling |
| 12 | China | 217,819 | 2020 | down 40.9% | volatile |
| 13 | Iraq | 201,316 | 2017 | down 52.8% | falling |
| 14 | South Africa | 192,649 | 2024 | up 167.5% | volatile |
| 15 | Brazil | 173,498 | 2018 | down 43.7% | falling |
| 16 | Iran | 115,233 | 2016 | down 57.1% | volatile |
| 17 | Mexico | 111,549 | 2020 | down 34.3% | falling |
| 18 | Thailand | 110,654 | 2018 | down 38.5% | falling |
| 19 | Philippines | 96,324 | 2020 | down 58.9% | falling |
| 20 | Burundi | 88,781 | 2017 | down 71.2% | falling |
| 21 | Guatemala | 83,737 | 2018 | up 12.4% | falling |
| 22 | Cambodia | 79,352 | 2019 | down 57.6% | falling |
| 23 | Vietnam | 68,875 | 2022 | down 68.7% | volatile |
| 24 | Togo | 63,366 | 2019 | down 20.6% | falling |
| 25 | Colombia | 54,549 | 2020 | down 41.2% | falling |
| 26 | Honduras | 54,156 | 2019 | up 9.9% | falling |
| 27 | Indonesia | 50,570 | 2020 | down 84.7% | volatile |
| 28 | Venezuela | 43,400 | 2016 | down 19.6% | falling |
| 29 | Laos | 39,696 | 2015 | down 40.8% | falling |
| 30 | Tunisia | 24,533 | 2019 | up 24.6% | volatile |
| 31 | Malaysia | 23,422 | 2022 | down 51.7% | falling |
| 32 | Sri Lanka | 23,104 | 2024 | down 13.7% | volatile |
| 33 | Dominican Republic | 21,891 | 2024 | down 11.1% | falling |
| 34 | Jordan | 17,427 | 2024 | up 140.4% | rising |
| 35 | Chile | 13,826 | 2017 | up 19.4% | falling |
| 36 | Peru | 13,347 | 2020 | down 60.7% | falling |
| 37 | El Salvador | 12,866 | 2024 | down 36.1% | volatile |
| 38 | Paraguay | 8,346 | 2020 | down 8.8% | falling |
| 39 | Spain | 7,275 | 2021 | down 14.2% | falling |
| 40 | Ecuador | 7,044 | 2022 | down 61.3% | falling |
| 41 | Bolivia | 6,518 | 2023 | down 23.3% | falling |
| 42 | Panama | 3,864 | 2019 | down 42.1% | falling |
| 43 | Palestine | 3,048 | 2022 | up 1.3% | falling |
| 44 | Uruguay | 2,861 | 2022 | down 21.8% | falling |
| 45 | United Arab Emirates | 2,638 | 2024 | down 82.2% | volatile |
| 46 | Kuwait | 2,346 | 2020 | up 6.9% | volatile |
| 47 | Oman | 1,321 | 2022 | down 84.2% | volatile |
| 48 | Turkey | 1,156 | 2021 | down 96.7% | volatile |
| 49 | Serbia | 1,001 | 2022 | down 65.4% | volatile |
| 50 | Georgia | 996 | 2024 | up 18.7% | rising |
| 51 | Azerbaijan | 900 | 2023 | up 336.9% | volatile |
| 52 | Maldives | 824 | 2016 | up 165.8% | volatile |
| 53 | Bahrain | 537 | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 54 | Qatar | 519 | 2024 | down 85.7% | volatile |
| 55 | Singapore | 283 | 2021 | up 5.6% | volatile |
| 56 | Armenia | 258 | 2020 | down 43.9% | falling |
| 57 | Uzbekistan | 2 | 2022 | unchanged | volatile |
| 58 | Saudi Arabia | 0 | 2024 | down 100.0% | volatile |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- SDG: World 37.77 million
- UIS: World 37.77 million
- MDG: World 37.77 million
- WB: World 37.77 million
- UNICEF: World 37.75 million
- MDG: Developing Regions 37.28 million
- UNICEF: All Unicef Countries 37.28 million
- WB: Ida & Ibrd Total 37.26 million
- WB: Low & Middle Income (july 2025) 37.20 million
- GPE: Overall Fy24, All 90 Countries, December 2024 32.86 million
- WB: Ida Total 31.48 million
- WB: Global Partnership for Education (july 2019) 31.47 million
- GPE: Fragile or Conflict-affected Countries (fcac) Fy24, December 2024 25.15 million
- ECA: African Union Commission (unsdcode:98106) 24.94 million
- ECA: All Countries (unsdcode:98100) 24.94 million
- ESCAP: Africa (afr) (unsdcode:98405) 24.94 million
- UNICEF: Africa 24.94 million
- MDG: Sub-saharan Africa 24.11 million
- UNICEF: Sub-saharan Africa 24.11 million
- WB: Sub-saharan Africa 24.11 million
- WB: Sub-saharan Africa (ida & Ibrd) 24.11 million
- WB: Sub-saharan Africa (excluding High Income) 24.11 million
- ECA: Sub-saharan Africa (unsdcode:98126) 24.00 million
- GPE: Sub-saharan Africa Wb Fy24, December 2024 23.85 million
- SDG: Sub-saharan Africa 22.70 million
- UIS: Sub-saharan Africa 22.59 million
- WB: Ida Only 21.00 million
- WB: Pre-demographic Dividend 20.94 million
- SDG: Least Developed Countries 20.93 million
- WB: Least Developed Countries: Un Classification 20.93 million
- WB: Middle Income (july 2025) 20.50 million
- WB: Fragile and Conflict Affected Situations 20.39 million
- WB: Fy23 Ida & Ibrd Countries Classified As Fragile Situations 20.38 million
- WB: Fy23 Ida Countries Classified As Fragile Situations 20.09 million
- WB: Lower Middle Income (july 2025) 19.02 million
- WB: Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (hipc) 18.82 million
- ESCAP: Wb Lower Middle Income Economies (wb_lower_mid) (unsdcode:98438) 18.62 million
- ECA: Least Developed Countries (unsdcode:98118) 17.76 million
- ESCAP: Wb Low Income Economies (wb_low) (unsdcode:98439) 17.24 million
- WB: Low Income (july 2025) 16.70 million
About this data
February 2026 Data Release