Literacy rate — all countries

Literacy rate — Central America

Literacy rate in Central America in 2024 — 93.44%. Since 2012, the indicator has risen by 1.98 pp.

2024 93.44% −0.25 pp vs 2023
World rank
Period maximum 93.7%2023
Period minimum 91.46%2012

Trend over time

2012–2024 · % of population aged 15+

Literacy rate — Central America, 2012–20249192939420122014201620182020202220242012: 91.46%2014: 92.25%2015: 92.31%2018: 93.12%2022: 93.12%2023: 93.7%2024: 93.44%
Change over the period: +1.98 pp Annual average: 0.17 pp

Comparison, 2024

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

Central America 93.44%
World 87.74%
Literacy rate — Central America, by year Central America All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2024 93.44 −0.25 pp
2023 93.7 +0.58 pp
2022 93.12
2018 93.12
2015 92.31 +0.06 pp
2014 92.25
2012 91.46

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.