In 2021, 9.24% of the population aged 45 and over were still illiterate.

Illiteracy rates (ABH) have shown a downward trend since 1994. However, Indonesia is not yet free from illiteracy. A portion of the population still cannot read and write simple sentences in Latin script, Arabic script, and other scripts.

Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows that 9.24% of the Indonesian population aged 45 and over were illiterate in 2021. This illiteracy rate (ABH) has decreased by 26.82 percentage points compared to 1994, when it was 36.06%. The ABH for the population aged 45 and over reached its highest level of 37.8% in 1995.

The ABH for the population aged 15-45 years was 0.73% this year. This figure has decreased by 6.17 percentage points from its 1994 level of 6.9%.

The illiteracy rate for the population aged 15 and over was 3.96% in 2021. This ABH decreased by 10.88 percentage points compared to the 1994 level of 14.84%.

Over the last decade, the ABH for the population aged 45 and over has decreased by 8.91 percentage points. Similarly, the ABH for the population aged 15-45 years has decreased by 1.58 percentage points, and the ABH for the population aged 15 and over has decreased by 3.6 percentage points.