2013 Edu/Stats

THEORY TO PRACTICE, ISSUE NO. 5, FALL '13

The World Bank’s State of Education Series report on Gender and Education contained the following facts on gender disparity in youth literacy rates:

  • Globally, there is still a gender gap in youth literacy rates, though the gap has been shrinking over time.
  • In 1985-94, there was an 8.6 percent difference between male and female youth literacy rates (87.6 percent of males were literate compared to 79 percent of females). 
  • In 2005-10, that difference had shrunk to 5 percent (92 percent of males were literate compared to 87 percent of females).
  • With the exception of Pakistan (10th), the 20 lowest female youth literacy rates were all found in Sub-Saharan African countries.
  • Haiti’s female youth literacy rate worsened by 10 percentage points between 1999 and 2010.