Literacy in Iraq Fact Sheet
Sept. 2010
Facts and Figures
One in five Iraqis, aged 10 – 49, cannot read or write. There are significant disparities in literacy rates across gender, age and urban versus rural areas. Illiteracy among Iraqi women (24%) is more than double that of Iraqi men (11%). Rural populations are more adversely affected by illiteracy (25%) than urban (14%) populations, and within rural areas the literacy divide between men and women is wider. In functional literacy tests amongst youth (when asked to read a sentence out loud), this disparity is further pronounced: less than 50% of women aged 15-24 living in rural areas were found to be literate, compared with 72-80% literacy rates for women of the same age group in more urban areas.
There are significant differences in illiteracy rates amongst the different governorates of Iraq. The lowest rates of illiteracy appear to be in Diyala, Baghdad (centre) and Kirkuk (north), while the highest are estimated to be in Dahuk and Sulaimaniyah within the Kurdistan Region in the north, and Muthanna, Missan and Qadissiya in the south.
Source: Inter-Agency Information and Analysis Unit (IAU); United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
IRAQ ILLITERACY – Women (24%) is more than double that of Iraqi men (11%).
September 16, 2010 by
