Play store
Bangladesh’s literacy rate has remained unchanged at 77.9% for three consecutive years, according to data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
The literacy rate stood at 75.6% in 2021 and rose to 76.8% in 2022 before remaining unchanged in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
As a result, about 21.9% of the population—nearly 40 million people—remain illiterate.
The figures were highlighted ahead of International Literacy Day, observed on September 8.
The government has set a target of raising the literacy rate to 86–90% by 2031.
Experts have attributed the stagnation to a lack of sustained literacy programmes, poverty, school dropouts, child marriage, child labour and limited access to education for disadvantaged groups.