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Literacy levels among young people, adjusted gender parity index

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Global Education

What you should know about this indicator

  • Literacy unlocks access to education, employment, and civic participation — this indicator shows how equally those opportunities are available to boys and girls in their youth.
  • It captures gender equality in basic literacy by comparing literacy rates between young women and young men aged 15–24.
  • The adjusted gender parity index (GPIA) is calculated by dividing the female youth literacy rate by the male youth literacy rate. If the result exceeds 1, it is inverted and subtracted from 2, producing a scale from 0 to 2, with 1 indicating parity.
  • A GPIA value of 1 means young men and women are equally likely to be literate. A value below 1 indicates a gap in favor of males, and a value above 1 suggests a gap in favor of females.
  • Literacy is usually defined as the ability to both read and write a short, simple sentence with understanding. The rate is based on self-reported data or, in some cases, assessed through basic reading or writing tasks.
  • Data sources include national censuses and household surveys. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and partners may also use modelled estimates when recent or complete data are not available.
  • This indicator measures basic literacy, not functional literacy. It reflects the presence of foundational skills, but not whether they are applied effectively in everyday contexts.
  • Cross-country comparability may be affected by differences in definitions, data collection methods, and the extent to which responses are self-reported or verified.

The Adjusted Gender Parity Index (GPIA) is calculated by dividing the female value for the indicator by the male value for the indicator. If the resulting value exceeds 1, the ratio is inverted and subtracted from 2. The adjusted gender parity index is symmetrical around 1 and lies in the range 0-2. An adjusted GPI equal to 1 indicates parity between females and males. In general, a value less than 1 indicates disparity in favor of males and a value greater than 1 indicates disparity in favor of females. For more information, consult the UNESCO Institute for Statistics: http://uis.unesco.org/

Literacy levels among young people, adjusted gender parity index
An of 1 indicates equal basic literacy rates among young men and women aged 15–24. Values below 1 favor young men, and above 1 favor young women.
Source
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
May 1, 2025
Next expected update
May 2026
Date range
1970–2023

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) is the official and trusted source of internationally-comparable data on education, science, culture and communication. As the official statistical agency of UNESCO, the UIS produces a wide range of state-of-the-art databases to fuel the policies and investments needed to transform lives and propel the world towards its development goals. The UIS provides free access to data for all UNESCO countries and regional groupings from 1970 to the most recent year available.

Retrieved on
May 1, 2025
Retrieved from
https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/resources/bulk
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), Education, https://uis.unesco.org/bdds, 2025

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Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Literacy levels among young people, adjusted gender parity index”, part of the following publication: Hannah Ritchie, Veronika Samborska, Natasha Ahuja, Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, and Max Roser (2023) - “Global Education”. Data adapted from UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/ratio-of-the-literacy-rate-between-young-women-and-men [online resource]
How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. “Literacy levels among young people, adjusted gender parity index” [dataset]. UNESCO Institute for Statistics, “UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) - Education” [original data]. Retrieved May 15, 2025 from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/ratio-of-the-literacy-rate-between-young-women-and-men