Rwanda vs Tanzania: Literate and illiterate world population

Rwanda

21.2%

in 2022

Tanzania

21.8%

in 2022

Rwanda rank

39th

Tanzania rank

38th

Literate and illiterate world population over time

Tanzania currently reports 21.8% against 21.2% in Rwanda, a difference of 0.6%.

The two have swapped places 2 times across 5 shared years of data; in 1950 it was Tanzania ahead.

Globally, Rwanda ranks 39th and Tanzania ranks 38th 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.