The bar chart illustrates the percentages of males and females who cannot read and write in six regions of the world in 2000. Overall, illiteracy rates among females were higher than those among males. South Asia recorded the highest rates for both genders, whereas developed countries had the lowest.
Looking first at three places which had significant gaps between the proportions for two genders, the figure of illiterate females accounted for approximately 55% in South Asia, followed by Arab States and Sub-Saharan Africa with 51% and 47%, respectively. In contrast, the corresponding figures for males were considerably lower, at around 34% in South Asia, 30% in Sub-Saharan Africa and 28% in Arab States.
Turning to the remaining regions, the female illiteracy rate stood at 20% in East Asia and just 11% in Latin America. Besides that, there were just 7% and 10% of males in these two regions were illiterate, in turn. The figures of developed countries, however, were just 1% for women and 2% for men.