Literacy Rate in India

Literacy is a reasonably good indicator of development in a society. Spread and diffusion of literacy is generally associated with essential trait of today’s civilization such as modernization, urbanization, industrialization, communication and commerce.

For the purpose of census, a person aged seven and above, who can both read and write with any understanding in any language, is treated as literate.

As per 2001 Census, the overall literacy rate of India is 65.38%. The male literacy rate is 75.96% and female literacy rate is 54.28%.

Ranking of States and Union Territories by Literacy Rate

State / U.T.	Literacy Rate	Male Literacy Rate	Female Literacy Rate
Kerala	90.92	94.20	87.86
Mizoram	88.49	90.69	86.13
Lakshadweep (U.T.)	87.52	93.15	81.56
Goa	82.32	88.88	75.51
Delhi (U.T.)	81.82	87.37	75.00
Chandigarh (U.T.)	81.76	85.65	76.65
Pondicherry (U. T.)	81.49	88.89	74.13
Andaman & Nicobar (U.T.)	81.18	86.07	75.29
Daman & Diu (U.T.)	81.09	88.40	70.37
Maharashtra	77.27	86.27	67.51
Himachal Pradesh	77.13	86.02	68.08
Tripura	73.66	81.47	65.41
Tamil Nadu	73.47	82.33	64.55
Uttaranchal	72.28	84.01	60.26
Gujarat	69.97	80.50	58.60
Punjab	69.95	75.63	63.55
Sikkim	69.68	76.73	61.46
West Bengal	69.22	77.58	60.22
Manipur	68.87	77.87	59.70
Haryana	68.59	79.25	56.31
Nagaland	67.11	71.77	61.92
Karnataka	67.04	76.29	57.45
Chhatisgarh	65.18	77.86	52.40
Assam	64.28	71.93	56.03
Madhya Pradesh	64.11	76.80	50.28
Orissa	63.61	75.95	50.97
Meghalaya	63.31	66.14	60.41
Andhra Pradesh	61.11	70.85	51.17
Rajasthan	61.03	76.46	44.34
Dadra & Nagar Haveli (U.T.)	60.03	73.32	42.99
Uttar Pradesh	57.36	70.23	42.98
Arunachal Pradesh	54.74	64.07	44.24
Jammu & Kashmir	54.46	65.75	41.82
Jharkhand	54.13	67.94	39.38
Bihar	47.53	60.32	33.57

-Literacy Rate In Indian State: Census 2011