Literacy Rate: Cabo Verde

Analysis# Cabo Verde Literacy Rate Cabo Verde's literacy rate reached 88.47% in 2024, matching its all-time peak. The nation has achieved a remarkable 40.9 percentage point improvement since 1990, when literacy stood at just 62.8%. This steady upward trajectory over 34 years reflects sustained investment in education and expanding access to schooling across the island nation. The most dramatic gains occurred in the decade following 1990, with literacy climbing to 82.219% by 2009. Progress continued but at a slower pace afterward—rising to 85.33% by 2012 and 86.79% by 2015—before stabilizing near the current rate. Cabo Verde's sustained literacy growth positions it among the stronger performers in sub-Saharan Africa, with the current plateau suggesting the nation has approached high saturation levels in educational attainment.