The bar chart on the left illustrates the approximate ratio of illiteracy status worldwide, categorized by region and sex for the past year. The horizontal axis is divided into different areas of the world, while the vertical axis represents the percentage figure. It also differentiates the data into two groups marked with light blue columns for males and purple ones for females.
We can see that South Asia and Arab States had the highest illiteracy rate, with women exceeding half of the percentage. That is to say, most women were illiterate in these regions. The Sub-Saharan Africa region had a slightly lower rate, but the margin was thin. Their women’s illiteracy rate was nearly reaching 50%, which was close to South Asia and Arab States. In contrast, developed countries had the lowest illiteracy rate. Some other regions like Latin, Caribbean, East Asia and Oceania share a similiar situation that their male illiteracy is around 10 percent. From the statistics across the board, it is evident that women have higher illiteracy rates.
From this chart, we can conclude that the overall situation for last year was, developed countries had the lowest percentage, followed by Latin, Caribbean, East Asia, and Oceania, while people from South Asia and Arab States as well as Sub-Saharan Africa had much higher illiteracy rate, with nearly 50 percent for the women.