Literacy

For the purpose of census 2001, a person aged seven and above, who can both read and write with understanding in any language, is treated as literate. A person, who can only read but cannot write, is not literate. In the censuses prior to 1991, children below five years of age were necessarily treated as illiterates.

The results of 2001 census reveal that there has been an increase in literacy in the country. The literacy rate in the country is 64.84 per cent, 75.26 for males and 53.67 for females. Kerala retained its position by being on top with a 90.86 per cent literacy rate, closely followed by Mizoram (88.80 per cent) and Lakshadweep (86.66 per cent).

Bihar with a literacy rate of 47.00 per cent ranks last in the country preceded by Jharkhand (53.56 per cent) and Jammu and Kashmir (55.52 per cent). Kerala also occupies the top spot in the country both in male literacy with 94.24 per cent and female literacy with 87.72 per cent. On the contrary, Bihar has recorded the lowest literacy rates both in case of males (59.68 per cent) and females (33.12 per cent).

Ranking of States/UTs by Literacy Rate Among Persons, Males and Females, 2001 Census

	Persons		Male		Female
Rank	State/UTs	Literacy Rate	State/UTs	Literacy Rate	State/UTs	Literacy Rate
1.	Kerala	90.86	Kerala	94.24	Kerala	87.72
2.	Mizoram	88.80	Lakshadweep	92.53	Mizoram	86.75
3.	Lakshadweep	86.66	Mizoram	90.72	Lakshadweep	80.47
4.	Goa	82.01	Puducherry	88.62	Chandigarh	76.47
5.	Chandigarh	81.94	Goa	88.42	Goa	75.37
6.	Delhi	81.67	Delhi	87.33	Andaman & Nicobar Islands	75.24
7.	Andaman & Nicobar Islands	81.30	Daman & Diu	86.76	Delhi	74.71
8.	Puducherry	81.24	Andaman & Nicobar Islands	86.33	Puducherry	73.90
9.	Daman & Diu	78.18	Chandigarh	86.14	Himachal Pradesh	67.42
10.	Maharashtra	76.88	Maharashtra	85.97	Maharashtra	67.03
11.	Himachal Pradesh	76.48	Himachal Pradesh	85.35	Daman & Diu	65.61
12.	Tamilnadu	73.45	Uttarakhand	83.28	Tripura	64.91
13.	Tripura	73.19	Tamilnadu	82.42	Tamilnadu	64.33
14.	Uttarakhand	71.62	Tripura	81.02	Punjab	63.36
15.	Manipur1	70.53	Manipur1	80.33	Nagaland	61.46
16.	Punjab	69.65	Gujarat	79.66	Manipur1	60.53
17.	Gujarat	69.14	Haryana	78.49	Sikkim	60.40
18.	Sikkim	68.81	Chhattisgarh	77.38	Uttarakhand	59.63
19.	West Bengal	68.64	West Bengal	77.02	West Bengal	59.61
20.	Haryana	67.91	Karnataka	76.10	Meghalaya	59.61
21.	Karnataka	66.64	Madhya Pradesh	76.06	Gujarat	57.80
22.	Nagaland	66.59	Sikkim	76.04	Karnataka	56.87
23.	Chhattisgarh	64.66	Rajasthan	75.70	Haryana	55.73
24.	Madhya Pradesh	63.74	Orissa	75.35	Assam	54.61
25.	Assam	63.25	Punjab	75.23	Chhattisgarh	51.85
26.	Orissa	63.08	Assam	71.28	Orissa	50.51
27.	Meghalaya	62.56	Dadra & Nagar Haveli	71.18	Andhra Pradesh	50.43
28.	Andhra Pradesh	60.47	Nagaland	71.16	Madhya Pradesh	50.29
29.	Rajasthan	60.41	Andhra Pradesh	70.32	Rajasthan	43.85
30.	Dadra & Nagar Haveli	57.63	Uttar Pradesh	68.82	Arunachal Pradesh	43.53
31.	Uttar Pradesh	56.27	Jharkhand	67.30	Jammu & Kashmir	43.00
32.	Jammu & Kashmir	55.52	Jammu & Kashmir	66.60	Uttar Pradesh	42.22
33.	Arunachal Pradesh	54.34	Meghalaya	65.43	Dadra & Nagar Haveli	40.23
34.	Jharkhand	53.56	Arunachal Pradesh	63.83	Jharkhand	38.87
35.	Bihar	47.00	Bihar	59.68	Bihar	33.12

Notes : Manipur figures exclude those of the three sub-divisions, viz., Mao Maram, Paomata and Purul of Senapati district of Manipur as census results of 2001 in these three sub-divisions were cancelled due to technical and administrative reasons. Literacy rates relate to the population aged seven years and above.

Source: India 2010 - A Reference Annual