Band 5+: The bar chart below shows estimated world illiteracy rates by region and by gender for the last year. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. You should write at least 150 words.

The bar chart illustrates six different regions’ last year estimated illiteracy rates according to gender.

Overall, the percent proportion of illiterate female was higher than male in all six years, particularly in East Asia/Oceania, Sub-Sahara Africa, Arab states and South Asia. In addition, it is noticeable that the illiteracy rate in developed countries and Latin American/Caribbean was lower compared to the remaining areas.

In developed countries, both illiteracy rate of men and women are significantly low at less than 5% when combined. Looking at the figure for Latin American/ Caribbean, it was more or less 10% for both genders. As for East Asia and Oceania regions, the illiterate male accounted for less than 10%, while female made up 20% of the proportion.

The female illiteracy rates in Sub-Sahara Africa, Arab States and South Asia were approximately 48%, 52% and 55% respectively. By contrast, the percent of illiterate men were much lower at above 31% in Sub-Sahara Africa, just under 30% in Arab States and lastly, between30-40% in South Asia.