Do men or women have the higher literacy rate over all?

Globally, the literacy rate for women is lower than that of men. According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, the global female literacy rate was 73.9% in 2020, compared to 86.3% for men. This gender disparity in literacy is particularly pronounced in some regions, such as South and West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. While there has been significant progress in improving female literacy rates over the past few decades, there is still a significant gap between men and women in many parts of the world.