Yes — real census and survey literacy figures from the World Bank's open data API, each row tagged with its own data year.

No. The World Bank open data API is public, key-less and CORS-enabled, so the browser calls it directly.

Does it work offline?

No. It fetches live from the World Bank, so it needs an internet connection; offline it shows a short notice.

Yes — free, no download, in your browser.

Why are the US, UK and most of Europe missing?

High-income countries stopped reporting this indicator to UNESCO, so the World Bank has no recent value for them. The board honestly shows only countries that still report — mostly emerging economies.

Literacy Rate Board Screensaver

The Literacy Rate Board screensaver ranks countries by adult literacy (% of people 15 and over who can read and write), on a fixed 0–100 scale, live from the World Bank's open data API. It's free, needs an internet connection, and ESC exits.

How the Literacy Rate Board screensaver works

The saver calls the World Bank's key-less open data API for adult literacy (SE.ADT.LITR.ZS) with mrnev=1, returning each country's most recent census or survey value.

Region and income aggregates are filtered out using the World Bank's own country metadata.

Bars are pinned to a true 0–100 scale rather than stretched to the leaders, so gaps between countries read honestly.

Each row shows its own data year, because literacy surveys arrive at very different times — some values are decades old.

A worked example

Flip Rank from to lowest-first and the board becomes a map of the world's literacy challenge: South Sudan, Chad, Niger and Mali all sit below 40%. In Multi-view it pairs well with the Education Spending Board.

Settings & tips

Countries shown — how many ranked rows to display (10–25).
Rank from — highest literacy first (the default) or lowest first, which tells the more urgent story.
An honest caveat: most high-income countries stopped reporting this indicator entirely, so the board is largely emerging economies — their absence is a reporting gap, not a literacy gap.

Frequently asked questions

Is this real data?: Yes — real census and survey literacy figures from the World Bank's open data API, each row tagged with its own data year.
Is a key needed?: No. The World Bank open data API is public, key-less and CORS-enabled, so the browser calls it directly.
Does it work offline?: No. It fetches live from the World Bank, so it needs an internet connection; offline it shows a short notice.
Is it free?: Yes — free, no download, in your browser.
Why are the US, UK and most of Europe missing?: High-income countries stopped reporting this indicator to UNESCO, so the World Bank has no recent value for them. The board honestly shows only countries that still report — mostly emerging economies.

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