India’s literacy rate is up but these are the worrying gaps that remain
Data shows that India’s overall literacy rate is up – with regions in the South and East doing the best – but there are gaps in who’s getting access to quality education.
Mizoram (98.2%), Lakshadweep (97.3%), Kerala (95.3%), Tripura (93.7%) and Goa (93.6%) are the top five States/ Union Territories registering the highest overall literacy rates in India for people aged seven years and above, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2023–24.
The report, released by the National Sample Survey Office under the ministry of statistics and programme implementation, shows that India’s overall literacy rate for this age group stood at 80.9%. For people aged five years and above, the national literacy rate was 79.7%. The disaggregated literacy data across all states and Union territories was based on nationally representative sampling.
