Band 9: You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. The chart below shows estimated world illiteracy rates by region and by gender for the year 2000. Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information below. Write at least 150 words

The bar chart provides information about the proportion of the approximate illiteracy rates, comparing the data by gender in six regions, in 2000. Overall, higher percentages of males were literate in all the regions. Notably, developed countries had considerably low records.

To begin with females, the highest rate of illiteracy was in South Asia, at around 55%, followed by Arab States, just over 50%. Sub-Saharan African women also had relatively close rates, constituting about 48%. Meanwhile, around 20% of those in East Asia/Oceania and 12% in Latin America/Caribbean were illiterate. The figure was the least (2%) in developed countries.

As for males, illiteracy rates were noticeably lower. Similar proportions of men in South Asia, Arab States and Sub-Saharan Africa were illiterate, around 30%. Latin America/Caribbean was at fourth place in male illiteracy, representing 10%, after which East Asia/Oceania recorded roughly 8%. By comparison, merely 1% of men were illiterate in developed countries in 2000.