Literacy Rate

Africa Ranking

percentSource: IMF

Current Rank	Country	Value	Latest Reading	Previous Rank	Previous Value

1	Seychelles	95.87	2018	1	93.95
2 ↑	South Africa	95.02	2019	6	87.05
3 ↑	Equatorial Guinea	94.37	2010	4	88.31
4 ↓	Sao Tome and Principe	92.82	2018	3	90.14
5	Namibia	91.53	2018	5	88.27
6 ↓	Mauritius	91.33	2018	2	93.16
7 ↑	Ivory Coast	89.89	2019	37	43.91
8	Zimbabwe	88.69	2014	8	83.58
9	Swaziland	88.42	2018	9	83.1
10 ↑	Botswana	86.82	2013	12	81.19
11 ↓	Cape Verde	86.79	2015	7	85.33
12 ↓	Zambia	86.75	2018	10	83.01
13 ↑	Libya	86.1	2004	17	76.5
14 ↓	Gabon	84.67	2018	11	82.28
15	Kenya	81.53	2018	15	78.73
16 ↑	Algeria	81.41	2018	20	75.14
17 ↓	Republic of the Congo	80.3	2018	14	79.31
18 ↑	Ghana	79.04	2018	24	71.5
18 ↓	Tunisia	79.04	2014	13	80.22
20 ↓	Tanzania	77.89	2015	16	78.1
21 ↑	Cameroon	77.07	2018	25	71.29
22 ↓	Democratic Republic of the Congo	77.04	2016	21	75.02
23	Madagascar	76.68	2018	23	71.57
24 ↓	Lesotho	76.64	2014	18	75.8
25 ↑	Eritrea	76.57	2018	29	64.66
26 ↑	Uganda	76.53	2018	27	70.2
27 ↓	Morocco	73.75	2018	19	75.59
28 ↓	Rwanda	73.22	2018	26	70.8
29 ↓	Egypt	71.17	2017	22	72.44
30 ↑	Burundi	68.38	2017	32	61.51
31 ↓	Togo	66.54	2019	30	63.75
32 ↓	Malawi	62.14	2015	28	65.15
33 ↑	Nigeria	62.02	2018	35	51.08
34	Sudan	60.7	2018	34	53.52
35 ↓	Mozambique	60.66	2017	33	56.04
36	Comoros	58.82	2018	36	49.2
37 ↓	Mauritania	53.5	2017	31	62.07
38	Senegal	51.9	2017	38	43.53
39 ↑	Ethiopia	51.77	2017	42	39
40	Gambia	50.78	2015	40	41.95
41 ↓	Liberia	48.3	2017	39	42.94
42 ↓	Guinea-Bissau	45.58	2014	41	41.36
43 ↑	Sierra Leone	43.21	2018	47	32.43
44 ↑	Benin	42.36	2018	46	32.95
45 ↑	Guinea	39.62	2018	48	32
46 ↓	Burkina Faso	39.35	2018	45	34.6
47 ↓	Central African Republic	37.4	2018	43	36.75
48 ↑	Niger	35.05	2018	49	30.56
49 ↓	Mali	30.76	2020	44	35.47
50	Chad	22.31	2016	50	26
51	Somalia	5.4	1972	51

Definition of Literacy Rate

Adult literacy rate is the percentage of people ages 15 and above who can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement about their everyday life.