North Africa
Youth and adult literacy in North Africa, by observation year
Tunisia’s 2023 literacy estimates were 98.16% for people aged 15 to 24 and 86.25% for everyone aged 15 and over. Egypt’s latest paired figures were for 2022. Older readings for Algeria and Morocco prevent a current four-country ranking.
Sources checked
Natural Earth land outlines and dashed land boundaries.
Switch age groups and read the source year in the table. Algeria and Morocco have older records.
Tunisia’s estimates show a nearly 12-point gap
The adult rate was 86.25% and the youth rate 98.16% in 2023. In 2008 the same series recorded 77.71% and 96.82% respectively. The adult rate rose more than the youth rate over those observation years. Source 1 Source 2
Egypt’s 2022 observation puts youth literacy above 95%
Egypt recorded 95.19% for ages 15 to 24 and 79.45% for everyone aged 15 and up. Its 2017 observations were 88.19% and 71.17%, respectively. The reported observations are spaced unevenly and should be interpreted in light of their source surveys. Source 1 Source 2
Algeria and Morocco are represented by older observations
Algeria’s latest pair in the extract is from 2008 at 75.14% for adults and 93.77% for youth. Morocco’s is from 2014 at 64.26% and 89.12%. Comparing these with Tunisia’s 2023 data mixes observation years. Source 1 Source 2
Youth are included in the broader adult population
UNESCO’s definition asks whether someone can read and write with understanding a short, simple statement about everyday life. Everyone aged 15 to 24 belongs to both series. Subtracting the rates cannot establish literacy among adults aged 25 and over without the age-group populations. Source 3 Source 2