Literacy rate — all countries

Literacy rate — Burundi

Literacy rate in Burundi in 2020 — 71.34%. Ranked 37 in the world out of 42. Since 1979, the indicator has risen by 48.83 pp.

2020 71.34% +2.96 pp vs 2017
World rank 37of 42
Period maximum 71.34%2020
Period minimum 22.51%1979

Trend over time

1979–2020 · % of population aged 15+

Literacy rate — Burundi, 1979–20200204060801979198419891994199920042009201420191979: 22.51%1990: 37.38%2000: 59.3%2008: 48.08%2014: 61.29%2016: 65.69%2017: 68.38%2020: 71.34%
Change over the period: +48.83 pp Annual average: 1.19 pp

Comparison, 2020

How the value compares with the world and the groups this territory belongs to: Burundi

Burundi 71.34%
World 86.98%
Literacy rate — Burundi, by year Burundi All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2020 71.34
2017 68.38 +2.69 pp
2016 65.69
2014 61.29
2008 48.08
2000 59.3
1990 37.38
1979 22.51

Eastern Africa, 2020

The same indicator for neighboring countries — with links to their pages

About the indicator

The share of the population aged 15 and older able to read and write a short simple statement about their everyday life. The UNESCO definition is deliberately minimal — it is the threshold of functional literacy, not an assessment of the quality of education. In most countries the data come from censuses and surveys, so they are updated irregularly.

Important: The series is incomplete: values are published only for the years in which a census or a literacy survey was conducted.

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), license CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.