Countries by Adult Literacy Rate
Complete ranking of 95 countries • % • Data refreshed May 5, 2026
Leader
Palau
Field size
95 countries
Lowest rank
Niger
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About Literacy Rate Rankings
Palau leads all 95 countries in Literacy Rate with a value of 100%, while Niger ranks last at 35.61%. This represents a 3-fold difference between the highest and lowest values.
What Literacy Rate Measures
Literacy Rate % from World Bank Open Data, using the latest available country values in TerraBrawl.
Why This Ranking Matters
Examining Literacy Rate across all countries reveals patterns that might not be obvious at the national level. Regional clusters, outlier nations, and historical trajectories all become clearer when the full global picture is assembled in a single ranking.
Global Range
Values range from 35.61% (Niger) to 100% (Palau) — a 3-fold difference across 95 countries.
Regional Patterns
European countries lead with 8 entries in the top 20, though representation spans multiple continents. Regional factors clearly play a role, but outliers from other parts of the world show that national policy and geography matter as much as continental trends.
Values are broadly distributed across countries, with the middle 50% ranging from 75.83% to 97.34%. The overall spread from 35.61% to 100% reflects significant global variation.
Notable Outliers
The top of the ranking is competitive: Palau and Tuvalu are separated by only 0%, indicating that the leading positions could shift with updated data.
Continental Leaders
Highest Literacy Rate
The 5 strongest Literacy Rate reads.
Lowest Literacy Rate
The 5 lowest Literacy Rate reads.
Data Note
Rankings are based on the latest available data from World Bank Open Data, covering 95 of 249 countries and territories. Countries without data for this metric are excluded from the ranking. All values represent the most recently reported figures.
