Dominican Republic's literacy rate, adult female (% of females ages 15 and above) was 94.43% in 2024, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is up 2.28 percentage points from 92.15% in 2014.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 94.43% | 2024 |
| Five years earlier | 87.37% | 2019 |
| Ten years earlier | 92.15% | 2014 |
| Highest | 94.43% | 2024 |
| Lowest | 72.54% | 1981 |
| Average since 2015 | 92.96% | 2015–2024 |
| First recorded | 72.54% | 1981 |
What the numbers say
In 2024, Dominican Republic's literacy rate, adult female (% of females ages 15 and above) rose 0.25 percentage points on 2023 (from 94.18% to 94.43%).
Across the 13 yearly changes before that (2011 to 2023), the average change was +0.34 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.6 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.0 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.
On record, the biggest yearly rise was 6.31 percentage points in 2020 and the biggest yearly fall was 6.13 percentage points in 2019. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.
From 2015 to 2024 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 8% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.
Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.
How it compares
In 2024, Dominican Republic had the 8th highest value of the 19 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Dominican Republic | 94.43% | 2024 |
| World | 84.59% | 2024 |
| Latin America & Caribbean | 94.69% | 2024 |
| Upper middle income | 94.87% | 2024 |
Closest to Dominican Republic in the 2024 ranking
What this measures
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.
Limitations: In practice, literacy is difficult to measure. Estimating literacy rates requires census or survey measurements under controlled conditions. Many countries report the number of literate people from self-reported data. Some use educational attainment data as a proxy but apply different lengths of school attendance or levels of completion. Ant there is a trend among recent national and international surveys toward using a direct reading test of literacy skills. Because definitions and methods of data collection differ across countries, data should be used cautiously.
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.
All 18 values
| Year | Literacy rate, adult female (% of females ages 15 and above) |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 94.43 |
| 2023 | 94.18 |
| 2022 | 93.71 |
| 2021 | 93.55 |
| 2020 | 93.68 |
| 2019 | 87.37 |
| 2018 | 93.5 |
| 2017 | 93.07 |
| 2016 | 93.76 |
| 2015 | 92.32 |
| 2014 |
Literacy rate, adult female (% of females ages 15 and above) in nearby economies
More education data for Dominican Republic
- Primary school starting age (years) — 6 (2025)
- Primary education, duration (years) — 6 (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age (years) — 12 (2025)
- Secondary education, duration (years) — 6 (2025)
- Primary education, pupils — 1.17 million (2024)
- School enrollment, primary (% gross) — 101.94% (2024)
- School enrollment, preprimary (% gross) — 33.36% (2021)
- Secondary education, pupils — 863,765 (2024)
- School enrollment, secondary (% gross) — 76.36% (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, private (% of total primary)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Dominican Republic's literacy rate, adult female (% of females ages 15 and above)?
- 94.43% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1981?
- It is up 21.89 percentage points from 72.54% in 1981. The highest value was 94.43% in 2024 and the lowest 72.54% in 1981.
- How does Dominican Republic rank?
- 8th highest of 19 economies with data for 2024.
- Is the latest change in literacy rate, adult female (% of females ages 15 and above) unusual for Dominican Republic?
- In 2024, Dominican Republic's literacy rate, adult female (% of females ages 15 and above) rose 0.25 percentage points on 2023 (from 94.18% to 94.43%). Across the 13 yearly changes before that (2011 to 2023), the average change was +0.34 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.6 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.0 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SE.ADT.LITR.FE.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/resources, note: The data are obtained through the UIS API. Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.
Want to ask your own questions of data like this? Try AnalyzeIt: upload a file or ask about public data in plain words, and every figure comes with its working.
Legal entity
Devansh Yadav
Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh
Governing law: Courts at Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh
Phone: +91 8433475698
Legal: legal@analyzeit.in