Gender gap in adult literacy rate, population 15+ years, rural — Value — All age ranges or no breakdown by age — Rural by country
The Suite of Gender Indicators presents a set of indicators relevant to agrifood systems that are disaggregated by sex, with the aim of highlighting gender differences across agrifood systems. The initial set of indicators is based on those used in FAO’s 2023 Status of Women in Agrifood Systems (SWAFS) report and...
What the numbers show
Gender gap in adult literacy rate, population 15+ years, rural — Value — All age ranges or no breakdown by age — Rural is currently reported for 44 countries. The highest value is 28.35 % in Morocco; the lowest is -3.14 % in Brazil.
The median across all reporting countries is 3.71 %, and the mean is 7.69 %.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 9.
Over the past decade 11 countries rose and 33 fell. The largest increase was in Jordan (up 316.8%), and the largest decrease in Mongolia (down 5,300.0%).
Gender gap in adult literacy rate, population 15+ years, rural: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morocco | 28.35 % | 2014 | down 6.9% | falling |
| 1 | Iran (Islamic Republic of) | 15.03 % | 2016 | up 1.4% | flat |
| 2 | Pakistan | 27.92 % | 2019 | down 14.6% | falling |
| 2 | Türkiye | 10.79 % | 2015 | down 48.7% | falling |
| 3 | Togo | 24.41 % | 2022 | down 16.7% | falling |
| 3 | Bolivia (Plurinational State of) | 10.39 % | 2023 | down 14.3% | falling |
| 4 | Niger | 22.26 % | 2022 | up 37.2% | rising |
| 5 | Benin | 21.87 % | 2022 | up 3.3% | flat |
| 6 | Uganda | 21.79 % | 2016 | up 0.4% | falling |
| 7 | Tunisia | 20.21 % | 2023 | up 0.5% | falling |
| 8 | Mali | 20.18 % | 2018 | up 47.9% | rising |
| 9 | Cambodia | 19.82 % | 2021 | up 21.4% | falling |
| 10 | Senegal | 19.46 % | 2023 | down 6.8% | falling |
| 11 | Burkina Faso | 15.41 % | 2022 | down 7.5% | rising |
| 12 | Peru | 13.84 % | 2020 | down 18.9% | falling |
| 13 | Guatemala | 9.64 % | 2024 | down 28.9% | falling |
| 14 | Bangladesh | 4.85 % | 2022 | down 35.9% | falling |
| 15 | Oman | 4.59 % | 2022 | down 57.2% | volatile |
| 16 | Rwanda | 4.56 % | 2022 | down 47.0% | falling |
| 17 | Jordan | 4.46 % | 2023 | up 316.8% | volatile |
| 18 | Indonesia | 4.07 % | 2020 | down 40.1% | falling |
| 19 | Malaysia | 3.92 % | 2022 | down 43.1% | falling |
| 20 | Mexico | 3.51 % | 2020 | down 32.5% | falling |
| 21 | Palestine, State of | 3.35 % | 2022 | down 48.9% | falling |
| 22 | El Salvador | 3.17 % | 2024 | down 43.0% | falling |
| 23 | Ecuador | 2.27 % | 2022 | down 56.9% | falling |
| 24 | South Africa | 1.86 % | 2024 | down 59.8% | falling |
| 25 | Paraguay | 1.76 % | 2024 | down 39.7% | falling |
| 26 | Sri Lanka | 1.53 % | 2023 | down 45.2% | falling |
| 27 | Kuwait | 1.28 % | 2018 | down 25.6% | falling |
| 28 | Spain | 1.09 % | 2020 | down 46.0% | falling |
| 29 | Serbia | 0.92 % | 2022 | down 80.0% | volatile |
| 30 | Thailand | 0.59 % | 2022 | down 84.9% | falling |
| 31 | Georgia | 0.29 % | 2024 | down 23.7% | falling |
| 32 | Azerbaijan | 0.18 % | 2023 | up 28.6% | volatile |
| 33 | Uzbekistan | 0 % | 2022 | down 100.0% | volatile |
| 34 | Armenia | -0.01 % | 2023 | down 103.8% | volatile |
| 35 | Mongolia | -0.52 % | 2023 | down 5,300.0% | volatile |
| 35 | Chile | -0.52 % | 2017 | down 316.7% | volatile |
| 37 | Honduras | -0.95 % | 2024 | down 199.0% | volatile |
| 38 | Uruguay | -1.73 % | 2024 | up 8.5% | rising |
| 39 | Dominican Republic | -1.94 % | 2024 | down 38.6% | falling |
| 40 | Colombia | -2.35 % | 2024 | down 75.4% | falling |
| 41 | Brazil | -3.14 % | 2018 | up 17.6% | flat |
About this data
The Suite of Gender Indicators presents a set of indicators relevant to agrifood systems that are disaggregated by sex, with the aim of highlighting gender differences across agrifood systems. The initial set of indicators is based on those used in FAO’s 2023 Status of Women in Agrifood Systems (SWAFS) report and on the recommendations of an expert consultation held in December 2023, and covers key dimensions including economic participation, governance, agency, social norms, assets and services, education, health, and nutrition. Indicator selection was informed by expert judgment and by the availability of data with sufficient geographic and temporal coverage to enable meaningful comparisons across regions and over time. While most indicators are produced and published by FAO and other international organizations, the objective of this domain is to provide a one-stop shop for sex-disaggregated data on agrifood systems.