Literacy Rate: Cambodia

Analysis# Cambodia Literacy Rate Cambodia's literacy rate stands at 71.93% as of 2021, representing a modest recovery from recent declines but still below its peak of 87.66% in 2019. The country has achieved substantial progress since 1998, when the rate was just 67.34%, marking a gain of 6.8 percentage points over two decades. This upward trend reflects Cambodia's long-term investment in education following the post-conflict reconstruction period. A sharp drop occurred between 2019 and 2021, with literacy declining 15.73 percentage points—the most dramatic shift in the dataset. The 2020-2021 period suggests potential disruption, possibly linked to pandemic-related school closures. Despite this recent setback, Cambodia's baseline trajectory from 1998 through 2019 demonstrates consistent educational advancement, with particularly strong gains between 2008 and 2015. Sustaining momentum toward the 2019 peak will require targeted interventions to address whatever factors drove the recent downturn.