United Nations ACC Task Force on Basic Social Services for All LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN School enrolment ratio Adult primary & secondary literacy rate (%) (%) female male female male ------ ---- ------ ---- Argentina 94 93 4 4 -------------------------------------------------------------- Bahamas 99 97 2 2 -------------------------------------------------------------- Barbados 88 (*) 92 (*) 3 2 -------------------------------------------------------------- Belize 91 92 .. .. -------------------------------------------------------------- Bolivia 73 81 24 10 -------------------------------------------------------------- Brazil 96 17 17 -------------------------------------------------------------- Chile 89 89 5 5 -------------------------------------------------------------- Colombia 92 85 9 9 -------------------------------------------------------------- Costa Rica 82 81 5 5 -------------------------------------------------------------- Cuba 92 88 5 4 -------------------------------------------------------------- Dominican Republic 86 81 18 18 -------------------------------------------------------------- Ecuador 90 91 12 8 -------------------------------------------------------------- El Salvador 68 67 30 27 -------------------------------------------------------------- Guadaloupe .. .. .. .. -------------------------------------------------------------- Guatemala 53 60 51 38 -------------------------------------------------------------- Guyana 82 82 3 1 -------------------------------------------------------------- Haiti 39 41 58 52 -------------------------------------------------------------- Honduras 80 74 27 27 -------------------------------------------------------------- Jamaica 88 83 11 19 -------------------------------------------------------------- Martinique .. .. .. .. -------------------------------------------------------------- Mexico 85 86 13 8 -------------------------------------------------------------- Netherlands Antilles .. .. .. .. -------------------------------------------------------------- Nicaragua 81 76 33 35 -------------------------------------------------------------- Panama 85 85 10 9 -------------------------------------------------------------- Paraguay 78 79 9 7 -------------------------------------------------------------- Peru 101 17 6 -------------------------------------------------------------- Puerto Rico .. .. .. .. -------------------------------------------------------------- Suriname .. .. 9 5 -------------------------------------------------------------- Trinidad and Tobago 88 86 3 1 -------------------------------------------------------------- Uruguay 98 92 2 3 -------------------------------------------------------------- Venezuela 87 83 10 8 -------------------------------------------------------------- Notes: Data are shown only for countries or areas with population size of 150,000 or more in 1995 as estimated by Population Division of Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis of the United Nations Secretariat (Population Division/DESIPA). Two dots (..) indicate that data are not available. Gross enrolment ratio for primary and secondary school combined The total enrolment, regardless of age, in primary and secondary education as a proportion of the population of primary- and secondary- school age according to national regulations. Data are shown for the latest available year. Data before 1990 are shown with an (*). School-age ranges vary by country, but are typically 6 to 11 years for primary school and 12 to 17 years for secondary school. It should be noted that the gross enrolment ratio can exceed 100, since it includes all pupils whatever their ages, whereas the population is limited to the range of official school ages. From UNESCO Statistical Yearbook 1996 (UNESCO publishing and Bernan Press). Adult illiteracy rate The proportion of the population who are illiterate, expressed as a percentage of the population aged 15 years or above. A person is illiterate who cannot, with understanding, both read and write a short simple statement on everyday life. From Compendium of Statistics on Illiteracy - 1995 Edition (UNESCO). Recent data are not available for many developed countries; UNESCO estimates that illiteracy averaged around 1 per cent in those countries in 1995. United Nations publication, (ST/ESA/SER.A/160) Copyright (C) United Nations 1997