FILIPINOS who are at least high school (HS) level showed a high literacy rate of 95%, above the national rate of 90%, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported, citing data from its latest survey.
In its third report on the 2024 results of the Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS), the PSA found that about 93.1 million Filipinos out of 103.5 million of the total population are literate on a basic level.
It noted that the literacy rate of Filipinos increases as the highest grade completed becomes higher.
Filipinos who had reached or completed college and post baccalaureate studies recorded basic literacy rates of 97.3% and 98%, respectively.
Those who reached elementary level had a literacy rate of 82.8%, while Filipinos who have no grade completed recorded the lowest basic literacy rate of 25.6%.
The PSA defines “basic literacy” as the ability of a person to read and write a simple message in any language or dialect with understanding, and to compute or perform basic mathematical operations; while functional literacy is classified as the ability of a person to read, write, compute and comprehend.
Functional literacy rate was at 70.8%, or about 60.2 million Filipinos out of 85 million aged 10 to 64, the PSA said.
Filipinos who reached or completed post baccalaureate studies recorded the highest functional literacy of 93.2%, while Filipinos who have no grade completed recorded the lowest functional literacy rate of 10.8%.
Seven out of 18 regions posted higher basic literacy rates than the national average.
Central Luzon led with a basic literacy rate of 92.8%. It was followed by Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR, 92.7%), Calabarzon (92.6%), Central Visayas (92.2%), National Capital Region (NCR, 92%), Northern Mindanao (90.8%), and Davao Region (90.3%).
Meanwhile, four regions surpassed the average functional literacy rate at the national level. These were CAR (81.2%), NCR (79.9%), Calabarzon (77.3%), and Central Luzon (73%).
The 2024 edition of the report is the seventh in the FLEMMS series, the country’s literacy survey conducted every five years starting in 1989. The 2024 survey was conducted between September to October 2024. — John Phoebus G. Villanueva
