Band 9: The bar chart shows the literacy rate (% of people who can read and write) by region and gender in 2011. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

The graph illustrates the percentage of the population able to read and write in 2011, broken down by region and gender.

Overall, men achieved greater literacy rates than women across the board. Conversely, while Central Asia had the highest literacy percentages for both genders, Sub-Saharan Africa suffered from the lowest.

Central Asia exhibited the highest literacy levels, approaching 100% for both males and females, indicating near-universal literacy in this region. Central/Eastern Europe demonstrated similarly high rates, closely following Central Asia. Conversely, Sub-Saharan Africa recorded the lowest literacy levels, with approximately 70% of males and 60% of females being literate, highlighting a significant disparity compared to other regions.

In most areas, except for Central Asia and Central/Eastern Europe, there was a difference between the literacy rates of men and women. In East Asia/Pacific and Latin America/Caribbean, this difference was small. However, in Arab states, the gap was bigger. South and West Asia had the largest difference, with about 20% more men able to read and write than women.