The bar chart illustrates the world literacy rate by region and gender in the year 2000.
Overall, it is clear that literacy rates were higher for males than females in all regions. Female literacy increased noticeably across regions, while male figures showed smaller changes.
At the beginning, in developed countries, both male and female literacy rates were very low , at almost 0%. After that, female literacy increased in developing regions, reaching its highest level of about 55% in South Asia. There was a gradual decline from developed countries to South Asia.
Male literacy rates were also highest in developed countries and then decreased across other regions. However, the fall was less dramatic compared to females. There was a small change in the American/Caribbean region, and the lowest male literacy rate was recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa at around 30. After that, the figures remained relatively stable before reaching South Asia.