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

Key figures

Over five years it is up 6.77 percentage points from 79.48% in 2018. Since 1984 it is up 38.06 percentage points from 48.19% in 1984. The World Bank has no value for 28 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 Tunisia in the 2023 ranking

• Azerbaijan — 2nd of 7: 99.78%
• Mauritius — 3rd of 7: 94.29%
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 4th of 7: 88.92%
• Senegal — 6th of 7: 50.36%
• Burkina Faso — 7th of 7: 41.57%

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 12 values

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

• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 79.45% (2022)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 88.92% (2023)
• Jordan — 94.44% (2024)
• Kuwait — 96.46% (2020)
• Pakistan — 58.86% (2021)
• West Bank and Gaza — 97.94% (2024)

More education data for Tunisia

• 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) — 7 (2025)
• School enrollment, tertiary (gross), gender parity index (GPI) — 1.45 (2023)
• School enrollment, tertiary (% gross) — 38.12% (2023)
• School enrollment, tertiary, female (% gross) — 49.4% (2023)
• School enrollment, tertiary, male (% gross) — 27.38% (2023)
• Primary education, pupils — 1.34 million (2023)
• School enrollment, primary (% gross)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

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

86.25% in 2023, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1984?

It is up 38.06 percentage points from 48.19% in 1984. The highest value was 86.25% in 2023 and the lowest 48.19% in 1984.

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.

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