Mauritius: Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above)

Key figures

Since 1990 it is up 14.42 percentage points from 79.87% in 1990. The World Bank has no value for 24 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

Closest to Mauritius in the 2023 ranking

• Armenia — 1st of 7: 99.84%
• Azerbaijan — 2nd of 7: 99.78%
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 4th of 7: 88.92%
• Tunisia — 5th of 7: 86.25%
• Senegal — 6th of 7: 50.36%

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 10 values

Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above) in nearby economies

• Burkina Faso — 41.57% (2023)
• Senegal — 50.36% (2023)
• South Africa — 91.15% (2024)
• Uganda — 77.04% (2024)

More education data for Mauritius

• Primary school starting age (years) — 5 (2025)
• Primary education, duration (years) — 6 (2025)
• Lower secondary school starting age (years) — 11 (2025)
• Secondary education, duration (years) — 7 (2025)
• Primary education, pupils — 84,530 (2024)
• School enrollment, primary (% gross) — 107.35% (2024)
• School enrollment, primary, female (% gross) — 107.78% (2024)
• School enrollment, primary, male (% gross) — 106.94% (2024)
• Primary education, teachers — 6,144 (2024)
• School enrollment, tertiary (% gross) — 45.78% (2024)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Mauritius's literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above)?

94.29% in 2023, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1990?

It is up 14.42 percentage points from 79.87% in 1990. The highest value was 94.29% in 2023 and the lowest 79.87% in 1990.

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.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.