Comparative Literacy Statistics on Country

The table below shows the adult and youth literacy rates for India and some neighbouring countries in 2002. Adult literacy rate is based on the 15+ years age group, while the youth literacy rate is for the 15-24 years age group (i.e. youth is a subset of adults).

Country Adult Literacy Rate Youth Literacy Rate
ages 15-24
China 96.4% (2015) 99.7% (2015)
Sri Lanka 92.6% (2015) 98.8% (2015)
Myanmar 93.1% (2015) 96.3% (2015)
World Average 86.3% (2015) 89.6% (2010)
India 74.04% (2011) 90.2% (2015)
Nepal 64.7% (2015) 86.9%(2015)
Pakistan 60.00% (2015) 74.8% (2015)
Bangladesh 61.5% (2015) 83.2% (2015)

Indian states ranking by literacy rate
Literacy rate in India is uneven and as such, different States and Union Territories of India have differences in their literacy rates. The following table shows the 2011 and 2001 census data on total literacy rate, male literacy rate, female literacy rate and decadal difference in percentage. According to Census 2011, Kerala has the highest total literacy rate and female literacy rate whereas Lakshadweep had the highest male literacy rate. Bihar has the lowest total literacy rate and male literacy rates while Rajasthan has the lowest female literacy rate.

Rank India/State/Union Territory Literacy Rate (%) - 2011 Census Male Literacy Rate (%) - 2011 Census Female Literacy Rate (%) - 2011 Census Literacy Rate (%) - 2001 Census Decadal Difference (%)
India 74.04 82.14 65.46 64.83 9.21
1 Kerala 93.91 96.02 91.98 90.86 3.05
2 Lakshadweep 92.28 96.11 88.25 86.66 5.62
3 Mizoram 91.58 93.72 89.40 88.80 2.78
4 Tripura 87.75 92.18 83.15 73.19 14.56
5 Goa 87.40 92.81 81.84 82.01 5.39
6 Daman & Diu 87.07 91.48 79.59 78.18 8.89
7 Puducherry 86.55 92.12 81.22 81.24 5.31
8 Chandigarh 86.43 90.54 81.38 81.94 4.49
9 Delhi 86.34 91.03 80.93 81.67 4.67
10 Andaman & Nicobar 86.27 90.11 81.84 81.30 4.97
11 Himachal Pradesh 83.78 90.83 76.60 76.48 7.30
12 Maharashtra 82.91 89.82 75.48 76.88 6.03
13 Sikkim 82.20 87.29 76.43 68.81 13.39
14 Tamil Nadu 80.33 86.81 73.86 73.45 6.88
15 Nagaland 80.11 83.29 76.89 66.59 13.52
16 Manipur 79.85 86.49 73.17 69.93 9.92
17 Uttarakhand 79.63 88.33 70.70 71.62 8.01
18 Gujarat 79.31 87.23 70.73 69.14 10.17
19 Dadra & Nagar Haveli 77.65 86.46 65.93 57.63 20.02
20 West Bengal 77.08 82.67 71.16 68.64 8.44
21 Punjab 76.68 81.48 71.34 69.65 7.03
22 Haryana 76.64 85.38 66.77 67.91 8.73
23 Karnataka 75.60 82.85 68.13 66.64 8.96
24 Meghalaya 75.48 77.17 73.78 62.56 12.92
25 Odisha 73.45 82.40 64.36 63.08 10.37
26 Assam 73.18 78.81 67.27 63.25 9.93
27 Chhattisgarh 71.04 81.45 60.59 64.66 6.38
28 Madhya Pradesh 70.63 80.53 60.02 63.74 6.89
29 Uttar Pradesh 69.72 79.24 59.26 56.27 13.45
30 Jammu & Kashmir 68.74 78.26 58.01 55.52 13.22
31 Jharkhand 67.63 78.45 56.21 53.56 14.07
32 Andhra Pradesh 67.4 75.56 59.74 -- --
33 Rajasthan 67.06 80.51 52.66 60.41 6.65
34 Arunachal Pradesh 66.95 73.69 59.57 54.34 12.61
35 Telangana 66.5 -- -- -- --
36 Bihar 63.82 73.39 53.33 47.00 16.82