Indonesia's Illiteracy Rate Shows a Decreasing Trend Over the Past Decade

The number of Indonesian people over 10 years old who cannot read, write, and count (illiteracy) has tended to decrease over the last decade. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), the illiteracy rate in Indonesia was recorded at 6.44% in 2011.

The illiteracy rate in Indonesia continued to decline to 4.27% in 2015. A year later, the illiteracy rate slightly increased to 4.62%, but then dropped again to 3.62% in 2020.

Based on gender, the illiteracy rate for women was 4.92% in 2020. This figure is higher than the illiteracy rate for men, which reached 6.32%.

The Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) assesses that several factors contribute to the higher illiteracy rate among women. One of them is the still limited access women have to education in several regions.

Further investigation, particularly in villages, reveals that the majority of these women are housewives. Based on this, Kemendikbud proposed bringing village housewives closer to entrepreneurship in 2018.

With this approach, mothers can sell food or local crafts. This is expected to encourage their interest in learning letters and numbers. In addition, village housewives can earn extra income from entrepreneurial activities.