You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. The bar chart below shows estimated world illiteracy rates by region and by gender for the last year. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. You should write at least 150 words.

The bar chart compares the rates of

illiteracy

across the world by region in 2000. Gender differences have

also

been fully taken into account.

It is clear that

the figure for

illiteracy

in developed countries was

overall

lower than that in the rest of the world in 2000. The number of illiterate women was higher than men in all regions shown. The estimated

illiteracy

rate in developed countries was almost negligible. And the rates in Latin America/Caribbean and East Asia/Oceania were no higher than 20%. The difference between the two mentioned above is that the gender gap was smaller in Latin America/Caribbean than in East Asia/Oceania. Sub-Saharan Africa, the Arab States and South Asia had higher or even twice as many people lacking literacy skills as the above-mentioned regions. The

illiteracy

rates of males in these regions were about 30%,

while

that of females were higher, about 48%, 52% and 55% respectively.