One in four Papuan residents aged 15 and over were still illiterate in 2021.

Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), 21.11% of Papua's population aged 15 and above were unable to read and write simple sentences in Latin, Arabic, or other scripts in 2021. This means that 1 in 4 residents in the province are illiterate.

Although this figure represents a decrease of 22.1% compared to the previous year, the illiteracy rate in Papua remains high. Papua's illiteracy rate among the population aged 15 and above is significantly higher than the national average of 3.96%. It also has the highest illiteracy rate compared to other provinces.

The province with the next highest illiteracy rate among the population aged 15 and above is West Nusa Tenggara at 12.61%, followed by South Sulawesi at 7.51%, East Java at 7.44%, and West Sulawesi at 6.91%.

West Kalimantan has an illiteracy rate of 6.59%. This is followed by Central Java at 6.21%, East Nusa Tenggara at 6.15%, and Southeast Sulawesi and Bali at 5.06% and 5% respectively.

Illiteracy rates range from 0-100. A low illiteracy rate indicates an effective basic education system that enables most of the population to acquire the ability to use written words in daily life.