placestats

Adult literacy vs. Contraceptive use (any method)

Fades after adjusting for income

Across 112 countries, Adult literacy and Contraceptive use (any method) rise and fall together at r = +0.59 (on a scale from −1 to +1, where 0 means no link). Comparing only countries with similar income (GDP per person) shrinks it to +0.40, which could easily be chance (q = 0.32, allowing for the many pairs tested, and allowing for countries in the same region being alike). So the first figure mostly shows richer countries differing from poorer ones, not a link between these two things. Caution: direction is not consistent across regions.

Comparing countries across the middle half of contraceptive use (any method), 29.1% to 64.2%, adult literacy is better by 18.8% of adults at the top of that range than the bottom. Comparing only countries with similar national income, the gap is 10.2% of adults.

Link before adjusting (r)+0.593p = 5.8e-12 · 112 countries
After adjusting for national income+0.398p = 1.5e-5 · likely range [+0.23, +0.54]
p, allowing for regions0.097standard error 0.195 · 6 regions
Check for luck (q)0.317across 14,952 pairs

How to read these.r runs from −1 (one goes up as the other goes down) to +1 (they rise together), and 0 means no link. Adjusting for national income means comparing countries with the same GDP per person, so differences in wealth can’t explain the link. Income is used in percentage terms, since an extra $1,000 means more to a poor country than to a rich one. p is how likely a link this strong would be if there were really none. Below 0.05 means it is unlikely to be chance. Very small values are written in short form: 1.1e-32 means a decimal point followed by 31 zeros and then 11, so very close to zero. The likely range is where the true figure probably lies, and a range that crosses zero means the link could easily be chance. Countries in the same region tend to resemble each other, so the third figure allows for that, which gives a fairer p. The standard error is the typical size of the error in r. Finally, testing this many pairs means some will look strong by luck alone. A q below 0.05 means this link is unlikely to be one of those.

Adult literacy · % of adultslink with income +0.73 · high
Contraceptive use (any method) · %link with income +0.56 · moderate

“Link with income” is how closely each measure tracks GDP per person across countries, from −1 to +1.

Every country as a dot

Adult literacy · % of adults →Contraceptive use (any method) · % →30.6%100%6.9%84.5%Afghanistan: 37.3% of adults, 22.5%Angola: 68.2% of adults, 13.7%Albania: 97.7% of adults, 46%Argentina: 99.1% of adults, 70.1%Armenia: 99.8% of adults, 57.1%Azerbaijan: 99.8% of adults, 54.9%Burundi: 71.3% of adults, 28.5%Benin: 51.4% of adults, 22.4%Burkina Faso: 41.6% of adults, 34%Bangladesh: 79% of adults, 64%Bosnia and Herzegovina: 97% of adults, 46%Belarus: 99.9% of adults, 52.6%Belize: 87.9% of adults, 51.4%Bolivia: 96.7% of adults, 66.5%Brazil: 94.7% of adults, 80.2%Bhutan: 64.9% of adults, 65.6%Central African Republic: 42.4% of adults, 17.8%Chile: 96.4% of adults, 76.3%China: 96.7% of adults, 84.5%Cote d'Ivoire: 50% of adults, 32%Cameroon: 72.6% of adults, 19.3%Congo, Dem. Rep.: 68.5% of adults, 28.1%Colombia: 95.3% of adults, 81%Comoros: 75.6% of adults, 11.6%Cabo Verde: 88.5% of adults, 55.8%Costa Rica: 97.4% of adults, 70.9%Dominican Republic: 94% of adults, 62.8%Ecuador: 93.5% of adults, 77.9%Egypt, Arab Rep.: 79.5% of adults, 58.5%Spain: 99.7% of adults, 62.1%Estonia: 99.9% of adults, 75.1%Ethiopia: 60.5% of adults, 36.1%Gabon: 88.9% of adults, 24.8%Georgia: 99.7% of adults, 39.3%Ghana: 76.5% of adults, 36.3%Guinea: 39.6% of adults, 10.9%Gambia, The: 51.6% of adults, 18.9%Guinea-Bissau: 63.9% of adults, 21.2%Guatemala: 82.1% of adults, 60.6%Guyana: 85.6% of adults, 29.9%Honduras: 88.3% of adults, 69.4%Haiti: 68% of adults, 34.3%Indonesia: 96% of adults, 52.6%India: 78.2% of adults, 66.7%Iran, Islamic Rep.: 88.9% of adults, 77.4%Iraq: 84.1% of adults, 52.8%Italy: 99.3% of adults, 65.1%Jordan: 94.4% of adults, 60.1%Cambodia: 71.9% of adults, 61.9%Kiribati: 98.6% of adults, 33.6%Lao PDR: 75.6% of adults, 56.3%Liberia: 59.4% of adults, 24.9%Sri Lanka: 92.7% of adults, 64.6%Lesotho: 90.4% of adults, 67.4%Morocco: 64.3% of adults, 70.8%Moldova: 99.4% of adults, 56%Madagascar: 74.7% of adults, 49.7%Maldives: 98.2% of adults, 18.8%Mexico: 95.6% of adults, 71.8%Mali: 35.6% of adults, 17.2%Myanmar: 93.5% of adults, 52.2%Montenegro: 98.5% of adults, 20.7%Mongolia: 98.6% of adults, 48.1%Mozambique: 61.7% of adults, 26.4%Mauritania: 59.5% of adults, 14.3%Mauritius: 94.3% of adults, 63.8%Malawi: 70.2% of adults, 65.6%Malaysia: 95.8% of adults, 42.8%Namibia: 87.6% of adults, 56.1%Niger: 35.6% of adults, 15.3%Nigeria: 70.4% of adults, 21.6%Nicaragua: 87.3% of adults, 80.4%Nepal: 68.7% of adults, 57.2%Oman: 97.3% of adults, 29.7%Pakistan: 58.9% of adults, 34%Panama: 96.2% of adults, 50.8%Peru: 93.7% of adults, 77.3%Philippines: 98.5% of adults, 58.3%Papua New Guinea: 87% of adults, 36.7%Portugal: 94.5% of adults, 73.9%Paraguay: 94.9% of adults, 68.4%West Bank and Gaza: 97.9% of adults, 57.3%Qatar: 97.8% of adults, 37.5%Russian Federation: 99.9% of adults, 68%Rwanda: 78.8% of adults, 64.1%Saudi Arabia: 97.9% of adults, 40%Senegal: 50.4% of adults, 26.5%Sierra Leone: 43.6% of adults, 21.2%El Salvador: 89.8% of adults, 53.6%Somalia, Fed. Rep.: 54.1% of adults, 6.9%Serbia: 99.3% of adults, 62.3%Sao Tome and Principe: 87.4% of adults, 49.7%Suriname: 92.9% of adults, 39.1%Eswatini: 90.8% of adults, 57.7%Chad: 30.6% of adults, 8.1%Togo: 72.6% of adults, 23.8%Thailand: 91.1% of adults, 72.8%Turkmenistan: 99.9% of adults, 49.7%Timor-Leste: 69.4% of adults, 26%Tonga: 99.5% of adults, 29.3%Tunisia: 86.3% of adults, 54%Turkiye: 97.3% of adults, 69.8%Tuvalu: 100% of adults, 23.7%Tanzania: 78.2% of adults, 37.6%Uganda: 77% of adults, 43%Uzbekistan: 100% of adults, 58.8%Viet Nam: 96.1% of adults, 72.8%Vanuatu: 88% of adults, 49%Samoa: 98% of adults, 16.6%South Africa: 91.2% of adults, 54.6%Zambia: 71.8% of adults, 49.6%Zimbabwe: 93.2% of adults, 66.8%BTNCHNCOLESTGINMARMDVMNEMWINERTCDWSM

best-fit line line after adjusting

Four ways to measure the link

MethodrpCountries
Standard (Pearson), not adjusted+0.5935.8e-12112
By rank (Spearman), not adjusted+0.4496.9e-7112
Standard (Pearson), adjusted for national income+0.3981.5e-5112
By rank (Spearman), adjusted for national income+0.1500.117112

The rank version uses only each country’s place in line, from lowest to highest, so a few extreme countries count for less. The adjusted and unadjusted versions use the same 112 countries: those that report both measures and GDP per person. So the gap between them comes from the adjustment, not from a change in which countries are counted. Drop in the size of r after adjusting: +0.195 (a minus sign means it grew).

How solid is it?

Leaving out one country at a time, r ranges from +0.374 (without GUY) to +0.428 (without WSM). The bar above shows that range on a scale from −1 to +1, with the solid line at the full result. The single country that moves r most: WSM (+0.030).

Fragile: this link may not hold up.
  • direction is not consistent across regions

Within each region

Countries are not separate, unrelated cases, and neighbors share a lot. A link that holds inside each region is far more believable than one that shows up only when comparing regions.

nr
East Asia & Pacific17-0.29
Europe & Central Asia17-0.02
Latin America & Caribbean20+0.73
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan12+0.41
Sub-Saharan Africa40+0.70

By income third

If the link shows up only in the richest third of countries, it is a feature of rich countries, not a general pattern.

nr
Poorest third38+0.67
Middle third37+0.08
Richest third37+0.09

By largest religious group

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
Christians63+0.39
Muslims36+0.42

By last european coloniser

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
France20+0.50
Never a European colony16+0.24
Spain17+0.03
United Kingdom34+0.20

Without outliers (countries far outside the middle half of countries on either measure, by more than one and a half times the width of that middle half): r = +0.378 after dropping 1 countries.

Two series, one country

Both measures over the years for one country you pick. The two charts are stacked so they share only the years along the bottom.

Loading…

Over time, within countries

Everything above compares countries with each other at one moment. This section compares each country only with itself over 0years. So a link here can’t come from anything about a country that stays the same, such as its history, geography, institutions or culture.

Not enough history inside each country to look at this over time. That needs countries measured for several years in a row, and at least one of these measures is measured too rarely.

The data


% of adults
%		Years
Uzbekistan UZB100%58.8%2022
Tuvalu TUV100%23.7%2022, 2020
Russian Federation RUS99.9%68%2021, 2011
Turkmenistan TKM99.9%49.7%2022, 2019
Estonia EST99.9%75.1%2011, 2014
Belarus BLR99.9%52.6%2019
Armenia ARM99.8%57.1%2023, 2016
Azerbaijan AZE99.8%54.9%2023, 2011
Spain ESP99.7%62.1%2021, 2018
Georgia GEO99.7%39.3%2024, 2018
Tonga TON99.5%29.3%2023, 2019
Moldova MDA99.4%56%2014, 2020
Italy ITA99.3%65.1%2019, 2013
Serbia SRB99.3%62.3%2022, 2019
Argentina ARG99.1%70.1%2020

World Bank, World Development Indicators
World Bank, World Development Indicators

Sources

Adult literacy

Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above)

UNESCO Institute for Statistics · CC BY 4.0 · updated quarterly

Reported only in census or survey years for most countries, so the data are sparse and uneven rather than yearly.

Contraceptive use (any method)

Contraceptive prevalence, any method (% of married women ages 15-49)

World Bank · CC BY 4.0 · updated quarterly

The share of married women aged 15 to 49 who use any form of birth control, including traditional ones such as withdrawal, from national surveys. Only married women (and women living with a partner) are counted. Most countries have a survey only every few years.

How this was computed

Data used: most recent value in 2010-2025; values come from 2010–2024. To adjust for income, each measure is first predicted from GDP per person (in percentage terms, on a log scale) with a straight-line fit. Only what is left over is then compared. This is called a partial correlation. The line is drawn the standard way (ordinary least squares), which picks the line that comes closest to all the countries at once. The error margins allow for countries in the same region resembling each other, using 6 World Bank regions. The q-value corrects for testing all 14,952 pairs at once, using the Benjamini–Hochberg method. Underlying data last updated DYB 2024. How the country data works · explore Adult literacy and Contraceptive use (any method)

This page shows that two measures go together. It does not show that Adult literacy changes Contraceptive use (any method), or the reverse. These figures also describe countries, not individual people. See the ecological fallacy.

More links with Adult literacy or Contraceptive use (any method)