Literacy and Non-Formal Education in Iraq

UNESCO OFFICE FOR IRAQ

Iraq historically has had high literacy rates. A comprehensive literacy campaign in the 1970s and 1980s helped reduce illiteracy to 20 percent in 1987. However, since then, most adult and non-formal education programmes have stopped, and today illiteracy is widespread with almost 30 percent of the rural population unable to read or write. In Iraq, an estimated five million people are illiterate; this includes 14 percent of school age children currently out-of-school as they have no access to suitable schooling or are obliged to contribute to household income. Overall, 22 percent of the adult population has never attended school, and only nine percent of adults have completed secondary education. Significant gender disparities are also a matter of concern with illiteracy rates reaching higher than 47 percent among women in some areas.