Bangladesh vs India: Literate and illiterate world population

Bangladesh

21.0%

in 2022

India

21.8%

in 2024

Bangladesh rank

40th

India rank

37th

Literate and illiterate world population over time

India currently reports 21.8% against 21.0% in Bangladesh, a difference of 0.8%.

The two have swapped places 3 times across 10 shared years of data; in 1981 it was Bangladesh ahead.

Globally, Bangladesh ranks 40th and India ranks 37th of 128 countries.

Indicator: Literate and illiterate world population
Unit: %
Source: UNESCO (1957) and other sources – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 128 places, 1,272 data points, 1475–2024
Last refreshed: 06 August 2026

Share of adults who cannot read and write a short, simple statement on their everyday life.