TEHRAN – The average literacy rate for the age group of 6-10 years is 97 percent, according to the latest national census.

Also, the literacy rate among the urban population is 98 percent and that of the rural population is 92 percent, Shapour Mohammadzadeh, head of the Literacy Movement Organization, stated.

The average literacy rate is almost 6 percent higher than the global average.Before the [1979] Islamic revolution, according to a census conducted in 1976, over 52.5 percent of the people were illiterate, he said, adding, only 24 percent of women in the country were literate. Also, the illiteracy gap between rural and urban areas was 35 percent.

In the past Iranian calendar year (March 2020-March 2021), the average literacy rate of women and men was reported 96 and 98 percent, respectively, IRNA reported on Wednesday.

Some 50 percent of the activities of the Literacy Movement Organization are focused on literacy empowerment so that there is no return to illiteracy.

The Organization plans to educate more than 30,000 illiterate foreign nationals residing in the country, Mohammadzadeh said in December 2020.

In deprived areas, we will cover up to 70 percent of the education cost, and all our efforts are to solve the problem of illiteracy across the country, he highlighted.

The average literacy rate of the youth (15-24 years old) in Iran is estimated at 97.4 percent, which is almost 6 percent higher than the global average.

FB/MG