Youth literacy rate in South Africa 2007-2017, by gender
According to the most recent available data, 95.3 percent of people in the age group of 15-24 years in South Africa were able to read and write a simple statement in 2017. Among females, the youth literacy rate was at 96.88 percent, while males that could read and write were slightly lower at 93.76 percent. Both represented a drop from the level in 2007. Throughout the period reviewed, more young females were literate than young males.