| 1 | Less than 50% |
| 2 | 50% to 74% |
| 3 | 75% to 94% |
| 4 | 95% or over |
| 5 | No data |
| 0 | abortion not permitted |
| 1 | to save a woman's life |
| 2 | to preserve physical health and to save a woman's life |
| 3 | to preserve mental health and above |
| 4 | in case of rape and incest and most of the above |
| 5 | in case of rape and incest and above |
| 6 | in case of foetal impairment and most of the above |
| 7 | in case of foetal impairment and above |
| 8 | for economic and social reasons and most of the above |
| 9 | for economic and social reasons and the above |
| 10 | on request |
Links
Links
Women's Literacy
What does it mean ?
The adult female literacy rate is the percentage of women aged 15 and above who can, with understanding, read and write a short, simple statement.
Why does it matter ?
Improving literacy and education for women not only leads to improved health and livelihood outcomes for the woman herself and her family, but has a positive impact on a nation's economy and development. The 4th Sustainable Development Goal is to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning, with one of the stated targets being "by 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy."
How is it collected ?
Data on literacy is gathered from large scale, nationally representative surveys such as Demographic and Health (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), other national surveys and censuses.
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (June 2016 Release) based on data for 1999 - 2015 http://data.uis.unesco.org/Index.aspx?queryid=166
Legal Grounds for Abortion
What does it mean ?
This indicator shows the legal status of abortion in each country by categorising the grounds on which abortion is allowed into the following groups:
- abortion not permitted
- to save a woman's life
- to preserve physical health and to save a woman's life
- to preserve mental health and above
- in case of rape and incest and most of the above
- in case of rape and incest and above
- in case of foetal impairment and most of the above
- in case of foetal impairment and above
- for economic and social reasons and most of the above
- for economic and social reasons and the above
- on request
Why does it matter ?
The legal status of abortion is an important indicator of women's ability to enjoy their reproductive rights. Legal restrictions on abortion often cause high levels of illegal and unsafe abortion, and there is a proven link between unsafe abortion and maternal mortality. There is strong evidence that legal restrictions do not stop women from having abortions, driving them instead to seek unsafe and illegal procedures which risk their lives.
How is it collected ?
The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, Policy Section collects these data every 2 years via their World Population Policies Database.
Findings are disseminated under the website: https://esa.un.org/PopPolicy/about_database.aspx
Download their database from this website for detailed data on grounds for abortion for individual countries.
United Nations, World Population Policies Database. http://esa.un.org/poppolicy/about_database.aspx
