The chart below shows estimated world illiteracy rates by region and by gender for the year 2000.

Task Achievement

Band 8.0

Coherence and Cohesion

Band 7.0

Lexical Resource

Band 7.0

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

Band 7.0

The bar chart compares the ratio of uneducated population, divided by sex, in six regions of the world in 2000. Overall, illiteracy rates were the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, Arab countries and South Asia and close to zero in developed nations.