TOP 10 MOST ILLITERATE COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD

Literacy is the capability to read and write one’s own
name and more for knowledge and interest, write
comprehensibly and think critically about the word that
is written and the inefficiency to do such is known as
illiteracy. Now a day, all over the world literacy
statistics represents a sad picture of people having the
capability to read and write. In fact, the illiteracy has
dominated more than 750 millions. The worldwide
literacy data shows harmful effects on the people all
around the world. The illiteracy rate is high for females
as two out of every three illiterate people are females.
The most annoying fact about illiteracy is that many
people do not take this issue seriously. The inability to
read and write and to understand the basic
fundamentals of life have made their life extremely
difficult. However they still deny the importance of
literacy. Highly industrialized countries such as Japan,
North Korea, Australia, the progressive countries of
Europe and North America have almost zero literacy
rates. The highest illiteracy rates are present in less
metropolitanized countries of Africa, Asia and South
America but mostly in Africa. Here is the list of top 10
most illiterate countries in the world . Have a look at
these and think still in this modern era such illiteracy
rate is present.
10. Mauritania
Mauritania has very high illiteracy rate of about 60.1%.
In the mid 80s, the literacy rate was estimated to be in
between of 18% and 25%.There are no programs at all to
teach the adults. As by law, to attend the school is
mandatory for kids and it is absolutely free of cost.
However the poor children face so much hindrance, the
price of food and other comforts keep them away from
educational facilities offered by the Government. Lack of
transport is another challenge for those living in
countryside. Many children never go to school at all and
cause literacy rate low year after year.
9. Ethiopia
The World Bank disclosed the literacy rate in Ethiopia
through its study about five years ago. According to this
study, the literacy rate in Ethiopia was at 29.82%. This
was based on the number of individuals who were
capable of reading and writing even straightforward
sentences that were used in daily conversation. Now
days, the illiteracy rate of Ethiopia is fixed at 61.3%, one
of the highest rate in that entire area. Non government
organizations have set up a lot of learning institutes and
colleges in the country. Ethiopian government is doing
efforts to improve the educational system, however the
programs for development are implemented at very slow
speed.
8. Benin
Benin is one of the poorest countries in Africa,
irrespective of the fact that it is rich in natural resources
that can increase the country’s income. It has a total
population of 9.05 million and has an illiteracy rate of
62.5%. A huge number of the population is unable to
read and write. The country is doing substantial work to
increase the education.
7. Senegal
It is located in West Africa having an illiteracy rate of
62.7%. It receives international donation every year as it
had undergone economy depreciation in past few years.
Instead of excessive investments for last three decades
on educational programs, development is still very slow.
Millions of children are unable to go to schools. The
speedy population growth makes the job of educating
everyone extremely difficult. Almost 50% of adult
population is illiterate.
.
6. Guinea-Bissau
The illiteracy rate of this country is 63.2% which is a
huge percentage of the total population, even though
education is compulsory for children of 7 to 13 years of
age. But because of the uncontrolled child labor, an
appreciable portion of the population does not know
even the basics of reading and writing. Internal conflicts
have affected a lot of people, caused a lot of damage to
schools and restricted many people from going to
school even for a long period. The huge number of
uneducated people is due to lack of educational
opportunities.
5. The Gambia
It is a smaller West African country having an illiteracy
rate of 63.5%. The free education is mandatory for
everyone by the Gambia Government but the deficiency
of resources and educational infrastructure is a huge
hindrance in implementation of this law. This is an
agricultural country having literacy rate of 77.1% two
decades ago, at that time 8 out of 10 people go to
school but high school fees and other expenses lead to
decline in literacy rate. Now better rules are applied for
education but still the illiteracy rate stays at 63.5%.
4. Sierra Leone
This country with a population of above six million,
depends on its mining industry for the annually income.
It has very low literacy rate like other West African
countries, an illiteracy rate of 63.7%. The law makes the
children to attend at least six years in the primary and
three years in the secondary. However the lack of
resources, the schools and the teachers made it
impossible to act. Two third amount of population is
illiterate. The Civil War caused a wide destruction of
schools. Now days, the school registration has doubled
and new schools are developed to replace the older
ones. Primary education is compulsory and is free of any
charges.
3. Afghanistan
Afghanistan is ranked at number three in this list having
the illiteracy rate of 63.7%. Almost 75% of the
population of Afghanistan lives in rural areas and having
worse educational opportunities. 70% of the men and
almost all the women are illiterate. It faces a lot of
problems in developing literacy the number one problem
is violence. It is one of the most badly affected countries
by violence against schools and education. Other
challenges include lack of sufficient teacher’s education,
infrastructure, extremist curriculum and child labor.
2. Burkina Faso
The second most illiterate country in the world is
Burkina Faso having an illiteracy rate of 77% with
inadequate school registration percentage of only 39.1%
. Majority off illiterate people are adults comprising of
more than 70% of adult population and therefore this
country is suffering from tremendous deficiency of
school teachers even at primary level. School years
interruptions and large class sizes of more than 120
students in a class are common factors making the
individuals uneducated.
1. Niger with 84.3%
The country on the top of this list with highest illiteracy
rate is Niger. More than 80% of the adults of this country
are uneducated and the illiteracy rate of this country is
84.3%. Such huge amount of population is unable to
read, write and understand.
The primary education is mandatory in this country for
six years, school enrollment and attendance are
extremely low especially in case of women. Child labor
is the major challenge this country facing in
development of education. A lot of people are forced to
work in this developing country.

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