Literacy Rate: Guinea-Bissau

Analysis# Guinea-Bissau Literacy Rate Guinea-Bissau's literacy rate reached 63.93% in 2022, marking the country's all-time peak. This represents a dramatic recovery from the 1979 low of 19.96%, translating to a 220.3% total increase over four decades. The nation has steadily climbed from near-universal illiteracy in the late 1970s to a position where nearly two-thirds of the population can read and write. Acceleration in educational progress became evident by 2000, when the rate jumped to 41.36%, followed by sustained growth through 2019 at 54.88%. The trajectory from 2019 to 2022 shows continued momentum, with the literacy rate gaining nearly 9 percentage points in just three years. Guinea-Bissau's upward trend suggests ongoing investment in education and expanding access to schooling, positioning the country for further gains in human capital development.