South Africa Literacy Rate (1980-2021)

South Africa literacy rate for 2021 was 90.00%, a 5% decline from 2019.
  • South Africa literacy rate for 2019 was 95.00%, a 8% increase from 2017.
  • South Africa literacy rate for 2017 was 87.00%, a 4.74% decline from 2016.
  • South Africa literacy rate for 2016 was 91.74%, a 2.26% decline from 2015.
Adult literacy rate is the percentage of people ages 15 and above who can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement about their everyday life.