Indonesia vs Malaysia: Literate and illiterate world population

Indonesia

4.0%

in 2020

Malaysia

4.2%

in 2022

Indonesia rank

79th

Malaysia rank

78th

Literate and illiterate world population over time

Malaysia currently reports 4.2% against 4.0% in Indonesia, a difference of 0.2%.

That makes Malaysia's figure about 1.1 times Indonesia's.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 5 shared years of data; in 1950 it was Indonesia ahead.

Globally, Indonesia ranks 79th and Malaysia ranks 78th 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.