Breaking down Unesco’s figures, more days further show that 774 million of the adult population in the year 2013 were illiterate and among them 493 million who cannot read text messages, complete forms and even read prescriptions written by their doctors. Illiteracy is defined as not knowing how to read or write beyond a basic level, understanding directions, or having the capacity to complete tasks in a timely manner.
Also, there is a 123-million population of illiterates aged 15 to 24. Of these illiterate youth, 76 million are women and 54 million of them are based in only nine countries: India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, United Republic of Tanzania, Egypt and Burkina Faso.
Geography of Illiteracy
According to the 55 percent of the 774 million illiterate people of 15 years and above locate in the West and South Asia as released by an infograph from Unesco Institute for Statistics in 2013. These regions have 70 as of 2015, and they both support rapid innovation as well as entrepreneurial development. Far East 2% literacy rates and sub-Sahara Africa has 64%. South Sudan falls way bottom of the list having a literacy level of 27% while Afghanistan has 28%. 27.01%, Sao Tome e Principe at 37. 7%, Niger at 28. 7%, Mali at 33. 4%, Chad at 35. 4%, Somalia at 37. 8% drop out rate was reported for South Africa, Ethiopia 39%, Guinea 41% and Benin 42. 4%.
The Countries 25 Best Literacy Rates In The World
| Rank | Country | Literacy Rate (%) |
| 1 | South Sudan | 27.0 % |
| 2 | Afghanistan | 28.1 % |
| 3 | Burkina Faso | 28.7 % |
| 4 | Niger | 28.7 % |
| 5 | Mali | 33.4 % |
| 6 | Chad | 35.4 % |
| 7 | Somalia | 37.8 % |
| 8 | Ethiopia | 39.0 % |
| 9 | Guinea | 41.0 % |
| 10 | Benin | 42.4 % |
| 11 | Sierra Leone | 43.3 % |
| 12 | Haiti | 48.7 % |
| 13 | Senegal | 49.7 % |
| 14 | Gambia, The | 51.1 % |
| 15 | Bhutan | 52.8 % |
| 16 | Pakistan | 54.9 % |
| 17 | Guinea-Bissau | 55.3 % |
| 18 | Mozambique | 56.1 % |
| 19 | Central African Republic | 56.6 % |
| 20 | Cote d’Ivoire | 56.9 % |
| 21 | Nepal | 57.4 % |
| 22 | Bangladesh | 57.7 % |
| 23 | Timor-Leste | 58.3 % |
| 24 | Mauritania | 58.6 % |
| 25 | Togo | 60.4 % |
The Relationship Between Literacy and Poverty
Therefore, poverty and illiteracy are known to coexist since people who cannot afford basic needs also cannot afford education. This is because the impoverished areas have less accessibility in the aspects of education.
Furthermore, even if education facilities exist a struggling family may require their children to work and earn the food or other necessities needed in place of schooling. It is worth to note that most of the countries with lowest literacy level are in the South Asia, West Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa most of which are in the list of poorest countries in the world.
- Literacy rates depict the proportion of the population of people, aged 15 and over, who is able to read and write with understanding of a very short and basic text with reference to their daily lives.
- Some countries, especially in North America and Western Europe, defines literacy more narowly than above indicator suggests. Consequently, their data would generate a paradoxical situation that redefines literacy as ‘apples to oranges’ to the prevalent definition and is seldom incorporated into the literacy datasets.
- Other countries with the higher and more accurate definition of the literacy include United States, United Kingdom, the Switzerland, Japan, France and Germany.
- All the percentages within the All Genders category have been also rounded at the source with precision to the nearest whole number.
Conclusin
However, regarding the classification of illiteracy as either ‘pure’ or ‘functional’ in these countries, this research does not avail the information as 18 out of the 20 most illiterate countries in the entire world are from Africa.