| 1 | Less than 50% |
| 2 | 50% to 74% |
| 3 | 75% to 94% |
| 4 | 95% or over |
| 5 | No data |
| 0 | Less than 25 |
| 1 | 25 to 49 |
| 2 | 50 to 74 |
| 3 | 75 to 99 |
| 4 | 100 to 149 |
| 5 | 150 and over |
| 6 | No Data |
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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
A Mother Too Soon in 2015
For all too many girls around the world, pregnancy happens when they are themselves still children. However the repercussions of early motherhood can have a disastrous impact on a young woman's life. Women who give birth between the ages of 15-19 are twice as likely to die from pregnancy and birth related causes than women in their 20s, and for girls aged under 15 the risk is five times higher that women in their 20s.
Babies under one with adolescent mothers are 50% more likely to die than those with mothers in their 20s, and the younger the mother, the higher the risk.
Potential disadvantages are not just limited to health. When girls start having babies in their early teens, they miss out on school, which means they also miss opportunities to escape poverty.
As a result of unprotected sex, teenage girls are also at high risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases including HIV. Young girls may feel unable to ask to use condoms – and in many cases they may be forced into sex. In both Malawi and Ghana around a third of girls reported that they were "not willing at all" during their first sexual experience.
Mothers under 16
In many countries girls are often married and bear their first child before the age of 16. This is particularly prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa, but also in parts of Asia and Latin America. These very young pregnancies, which carry the greatest risks for both mother and baby, are concentrated in those countries where services are poorest.
No attribution
