UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Adult literacy rate, ages 15+ (%)

Name: Adult literacy rate, ages 15+ (%)
Creator: UNESCO Institute for Statistics
License: https://apiportal.uis.unesco.org/getting-started

Share of people aged 15 and over who can read and write a short simple statement about their everyday life. A slow-moving stock measure of the population’s educational base. UNESCO UIS national estimate, both sexes.

Trend

Latest values

Period	Area	Value	Unit
2021	Syria	94.42	% of ages 15+
2004	Syria	80.84	% of ages 15+
2002	Syria	82.89	% of ages 15+
1981	Syria	55.65	% of ages 15+

About this data

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Dataset: UNESCO UIS Syria education indicators
License: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Dataset version: 20260721141533-2be8a06a6658
Last source check: 2026-07-21
Data quality: Source-published
Original download: Source API request; UNESCO Institute for Statistics national both-sexes estimate; reported or modelled values as published by UIS.
What this data is and is not: These are UNESCO UIS national series for Syria, both sexes, not governorate-level measurements. Some values are reported by national authorities and some are UIS estimates, and coverage varies sharply by year—out-of-school rates run to recent years while some spending and completion figures predate the war. Sanad keeps the national total for each year.; Official methodology documentation

Citation

How to cite this data

Syria Data Observatory, “Adult literacy rate, ages 15+ (%)”. Dataset: UNESCO UIS Syria education indicators. Original source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Version: 20260721141533-2be8a06a6658. Last source check: 2026-07-21. https://observatory.sanaddata.com/en/indicators/unesco-adult-literacy.

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