List of Indian states and union territories by literacy rate

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Literacy rate map of India, 2011.[1]

Literacy rate in India is uneven and as such, different states and union territories of India have differences in their literacy rates. The following table shows the details from 1951 to 2011 census data on total literacy rate in percentage.[2][3] According to Census 2011, Kerala has the highest total literacy rate and female literacy rate whereas Lakshadweep had the highest male literacy rate. Andhra Pradesh has the lowest overall literacy rate. Rajasthan has the lowest male literacy rate, while Bihar has the lowest female literacy rate. Literacy figures are collected by census takers which essentially means literacy (or lack therefore) is self assessed.[2]

Recent estimates[edit]

Literacy rates as %age of population by States and Union territories
State or UT Census 2011[4] NSO survey (2017)[5]
Average Male Female Average Male Female
 India 74.04 82.14 65.46 77.7 84.7 70.3
A&N islands[UT] 86.27 90.11 81.84 - - -
Andhra Pradesh[lower-alpha 1] 66.40 75.56 59.74 66.4 73.4 59.5
Arunachal Pradesh 66.95 73.69 59.57 - - -
Assam 73.18 78.81 67.27 85.9 90.1 81.2
Bihar 69.82 73.39 53.33 70.9 79.7 60.5
Chhattisgarh 71.04 81.45 60.59 77.3 85.4 68.8
Chandigarh[UT] 86.43 90.54 81.38 - - -
Dadra and Nagar Haveli[UT] 77.65 86.46 65.93 - - -
Daman & Diu[UT] 87.07 91.48 79.59 - - -
Delhi[UT] 86.34 91.03 80.93 88.70 82.40 93.70
Goa 87.40 92.81 81.84 - - -
Gujarat 79.31 87.23 70.73 82.4 89.5 74.8
Haryana 76.64 85.38 66.77 80.4 88.0 71.3
Himachal Pradesh 83.78 90.83 76.60 86.6 92.9 80.5
Jammu and Kashmir 68.74 78.26 58.01 77.3 85.7 68.0
Jharkhand 66.40 78.45 56.21 74.3 83.0 64.7
Karnataka 75.60 82.85 68.13 77.2 83.4 70.5
Kerala 93.91 96.02 91.98 96.2 97.4 95.2
Lakshadweep[UT] 92.28 96.11 88.25 - - -
Madhya Pradesh 70.63 80.53 60.02 73.7 81.2 65.5
Maharashtra 82.91 89.82 75.48 84.8 90.7 78.4
Manipur 79.85 86.49 73.17 - - -
Meghalya 75.48 77.17 73.78 - - -
Mizoram 91.58 93.72 89.40 - - -
Nagaland 80.11 83.29 76.69 - - -
Odisha 73.45 82.40 64.36 77.3 84.0 70.3
Puducherry[UT] 86.55 92.12 81.22 - - -
Punjab 76.68 81.48 71.34 83.7 88.5 78.5
Rajasthan 67.06 80.51 52.66 69.7 80.8 57.6
Sikkim 82.20 87.29 76.43 - - -
Tamil Nadu 80.33 86.81 73.86 82.9 87.9 77.9
Telangana - - - 72.8 80.5 65.1
Tripura 87.75 92.18 83.15 - - -
Uttarakhand 79.63 88.33 70.70 87.6 94.3 80.7
Uttar Pradesh 69.72 79.24 59.26 73.0 81.8 63.4
West Bengal 77.08 82.67 71.16 80.50 84.80 76.10

Timeline by Census[edit]

Summary by Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India; literacy rates as % of population.[6][lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3]
State/UT 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011
A&N islands 30.30 40.07 51.15 63.19 73.02 81.30 86.27
Andhra Pradesh - 21.19 24.57 35.66 44.08 60.47 67.66
Arunachal Pradesh - 7.13 11.29 25.55 41.59 54.34 66.95
Assam 18.53 32.95 33.94 - 52.89 63.25 73.45
Bihar 13.49 21.95 23.17 32.32 37.49 47.00 63.82
Chandigarh - - 70.43 74.80 77.81 81.94 86.43
Chhattisgarh 9.41 18.14 24.08 32.63 42.91 64.66 71.04
Dadra and Nagar Haveli - - 18.13 32.90 40.71 57.63 77.65
Daman and Diu - - - - 71.20 78.18 87.07
Delhi - 61.95 65.08 71.94 75.29 81.67 86.34
Goa 23.48 35.41 51.96 65.71 75.51 82.01 87.40
Gujarat 21.82 31.47 36.95 44.92 61.29 69.14 79.31
Haryana - - 25.71 37.13 55.85 67.91 76.64
Himachal Pradesh - - - - 63.86 76.48 83.78
Jammu and Kashmir - 12.95 21.71 30.64 - 55.52 68.74
Jharkhand 12.93 21.14 23.87 35.03 41.39 53.56 67.63
Karnataka - 29.80 36.83 46.21 56.04 66.06 75.60
Kerala 47.18 55.08 69.75 78.85 89.81 90.86 93.91
Lakshadweep 15.23 27.15 51.76 68.42 81.78 86.66 92.28
Madhya Pradesh 13.16 21.41 27.27 38.63 44.67 63.74 70.63
Maharashtra 27.91 35.08 45.77 57.24 64.87 76.88 82.91
Manipur 12.57 36.04 38.47 49.66 59.89 70.50 79.85
Meghalya - 26.92 29.49 42.05 49.10 62.56 75.48
Mizoram 31.14 44.01 53.80 59.88 82.26 88.80 91.58
Nagaland 10.52 21.95 33.78 50.28 61.65 66.59 80.11
Odisha 15.80 21.66 26.18 33.62 49.09 63.08 73.45
Puducherry - 43.65 53.38 65.14 74.74 81.24 86.55
Punjab - - 34.12 43.37 58.51 69.65 76.68
Rajasthan 8.5 18.12 22.57 30.11 38.55 60.41 67.06
Sikkim - - 17.74 34.05 56.94 68.81 82.20
Tamil Nadu - 36.39 45.40 54.39 62.66 73.45 80.33
Tripura - 20.24 30.98 50.10 60.44 73.19 87.75
Uttar Pradesh 12.02 20.87 23.99 32.65 40.71 56.27 69.72
Uttarakhand 18.93 18.05 33.26 46.06 57.75 71.62 79.63
West Bengal 24.61 34.46 38.86 48.65 57.70 68.64 77.08
 India 18.33 28.30 34.45 43.57 52.21 64.84 74.04

Literacy by Social Group[edit]

Literacy rate for different castes[7][edit]

Social Group Rural Urban Rural + Urban
Male Female Male Female Male Female
ST 75.6 58.8 91.3 79.6 77.5 61.3
SC 78.0 60.9 88.4 75.3 80.3 63.9
OBC 81.7 64.2 91.1 80.5 84.4 68.9
OTHERS 87.6 74.5 95.0 88.6 90.8 80.6
ALL 81.5 65.0 92.2 82.8 84.7 70.3

Literacy rate by different religion[8][edit]

Social Group Rural Urban Rural + Urban
Male Female Male Female Male Female
Hindu 81.8 64.5 93.4 83.8 85.1 70.0
Muslim 77.4 64.8 85.8 75.6 80.6 68.8
Christian 84.4 77.0 95.5 91.4 88.2 82.2
Sikh 85.3 72.1 94.2 88.7 87.3 75.9
ALL 81.5 65.0 92.2 82.8 84.7 70

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Census 2011, pp. 131.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Census 2011, Chapter 6 (State of Literacy), p.14" (PDF). Government of India.
  3. "India at a glance". Government of India.
  4. Census 2011, pp. 110-111.
  5. NSO 2018, pp. 43.
  6. TABLE 6: STATE-WISE LITERACY RATES (PDF) (Report). Office of Registrar General India. 2011.
  7. NSO 2018, pp. 43, 252.
  8. NSO 2018, p. 252.

Notes[edit]

^ Administered as a Union territory directly by Central government.
  1. Figures from Census 2011 includes those from Telangana state as well which separated from Andhra only in 2014
  2. Literacy rates for 1951, 1961 and 1971 Censuses relate to population aged five years and above. The rates for the 1981, 1991, 2001 and 2011 Censuses relate to the population aged seven years and above. The literacy rate for 1951 in case of West Bengal relates to Total Population including 0-4 age group. Literacy rate for 1951 in respect of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Manipur are based on sample population.
  3. India and Manipur figures exclude those of the three sub-divisions viz., Mao Maram, Paomata and Purul of Senapati district of Manipur as census results of 2001 in these three sub-divisions were cancelled due to technical and administrative reasons.

Sources[edit]

Further reading[edit]

url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/people-in-andhra-pradesh-surprised-at-lowest-literacy-rate-of-64-120090800015_1.html#:~:text=People%20in%20Andhra%20Pradesh%20surprised%20at%20lowest%20literacy%20rate%20of%2064%25,-IANS%20%7C%20Amaravati%20%7C%20Last&text=People%20in%20Andhra%20Pradesh%20are,for%20the%20year%202017%2D18.

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