Egypt, Arab Rep.: Literacy rate, adult male (% of males ages 15 and above)

Key figures

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

Closest to Egypt, Arab Rep. in the 2022 ranking

• Thailand — 1st of 3: 90.67%
• Bangladesh — 3rd of 3: 81.39%

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. And 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 11 values

Literacy rate, adult male (% of males ages 15 and above) in nearby economies

• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 92.75% (2023)
• Jordan — 96.6% (2024)
• Kuwait — 97.05% (2020)
• Pakistan — 69.14% (2021)
• Tunisia — 92.69% (2023)
• West Bank and Gaza — 99.44% (2024)

More education data for Egypt, Arab Rep.

• 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 — 15.4 million (2024)
• School enrollment, primary (% gross) — 96.71% (2024)
• School enrollment, primary, female (% gross) — 96.7% (2024)
• School enrollment, primary, male (% gross) — 96.71% (2024)
• Secondary education, pupils — 11.56 million (2024)
• School enrollment, secondary (% gross)

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Questions people ask

What is Egypt, Arab Rep.'s literacy rate, adult male (% of males ages 15 and above)?

85.29% in 2022, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1976?

It is up 31.67 percentage points from 53.62% in 1976. The highest value was 88.11% in 2021 and the lowest 53.62% in 1976.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, 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..

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SE.ADT.LITR.MA.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.

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