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World
The 12 Least Educated Countries in the World
By Tom Fish On 6/28/21 at 7:00 PM EDT

World
Higher Education
Children
Child poverty

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) describes literacy as an instrument to "empower individuals, communities and societies," making it an appropriate metric to compare educational attainment across countries.

However, despite long-running initiatives to improve the ability to read and write and raise global education standards, 2030's targets are unlikely to be kept.

On current trends, UNESCO fears 30 percent of adults and 20 percent of young adults (25 to 34-yea-olds) will remain illiterate in poor countries.
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This stands in stark contrast with scores of countries in Europe, South America and Asia that have attained 100 percent literacy rates.

Approximately 262 million young people are currently without access to basic school-based education, with the worst-hit regions facing conflict or clustered around sub-Saharan Africa.

Females also lag significantly behind males in terms of literacy levels in every one of the countries listed below.

UNESCO's Institute for Statistics (UIS) used self-declared surveys to publish their November 2019 global literacy data for all adults aged 15-years and older.