Literacy rate — all countries

Literacy rate — Iraq

Literacy rate in Iraq in 2021 — 84.06%. Ranked 26 in the world out of 44. Since 2000, the indicator has risen by 10.01 pp.

2021 84.06% −1.54 pp vs 2017
World rank 26of 44
Period maximum 85.6%2017
Period minimum 74.05%2000

Trend over time

2000–2021 · % of population aged 15+

Literacy rate — Iraq, 2000–20217075808590200020032006200920122015201820212000: 74.05%2012: 77.2%2014: 82.2%2016: 83.3%2017: 85.6%2021: 84.06%
Change over the period: +10.01 pp Annual average: 0.48 pp

Comparison, 2021

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

Iraq 84.06%
World 87.17%
Literacy rate — Iraq, by year Iraq All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2021 84.06
2017 85.6 +2.3 pp
2016 83.3
2014 82.2
2012 77.2
2000 74.05

Western Asia, 2021

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.