WORLD PULSE
—:—:— PKT

World Pulse · dashboard

The world, indicator by indicator

21 indicators · 217 countries · 156,366 observations. Each indicator is read at the most recent year that still has near-complete coverage. Neither rule works alone: child stunting's newest year has six reporters, and internet use is best covered in 1990, when nearly every country reported it as zero.

Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above)

read at 2022 · 4 years old

Share of people aged 15 and over who can read and write a short simple statement about their everyday life, with understanding.

World median

90.8% of adults 15+

Countries reporting

45/ 217

Observations, all years

1.1k

The median is computed across the 45 countries reporting in 2022 — arithmetic over real values, not a published figure. Higher is better for this indicator.

How the world is spread · 2022

1 country between 35.6 and 37.9 % of adults 15+1 country between 40.2 and 42.5 % of adults 15+1 country between 49.4 and 51.7 % of adults 15+1 country between 54.0 and 56.3 % of adults 15+1 country between 58.6 and 60.9 % of adults 15+1 country between 60.9 and 63.2 % of adults 15+2 countries between 63.2 and 65.5 % of adults 15+1 country between 67.8 and 70.1 % of adults 15+1 country between 72.4 and 74.7 % of adults 15+1 country between 74.7 and 77.0 % of adults 15+3 countries between 77.0 and 79.3 % of adults 15+2 countries between 79.3 and 81.6 % of adults 15+1 country between 81.6 and 83.9 % of adults 15+3 countries between 86.2 and 88.5 % of adults 15+3 countries between 88.5 and 90.8 % of adults 15+2 countries between 90.8 and 93.1 % of adults 15+4 countries between 93.1 and 95.4 % of adults 15+4 countries between 95.4 and 97.7 % of adults 15+12 countries between 97.7 and 100.0 % of adults 15+MEDIAN35.6100.0
45 countries reporting · each bar is a count of countries, not a value

Pakistan did not report this indicator in 2022, so it cannot be placed in this distribution. See what it did report →

How much of the world was measured

ALL 2171970: 3 of 217 countries reported1975: 6 of 217 countries reported1976: 8 of 217 countries reported1977: 1 of 217 countries reported1978: 2 of 217 countries reported1979: 7 of 217 countries reported1980: 20 of 217 countries reported1981: 19 of 217 countries reported1982: 7 of 217 countries reported1983: 2 of 217 countries reported1984: 5 of 217 countries reported1985: 6 of 217 countries reported1986: 4 of 217 countries reported1987: 3 of 217 countries reported1988: 4 of 217 countries reported1989: 11 of 217 countries reported1990: 17 of 217 countries reported1991: 24 of 217 countries reported1992: 9 of 217 countries reported1993: 4 of 217 countries reported1994: 7 of 217 countries reported1995: 5 of 217 countries reported1996: 9 of 217 countries reported1997: 3 of 217 countries reported1998: 5 of 217 countries reported1999: 9 of 217 countries reported2000: 44 of 217 countries reported2001: 30 of 217 countries reported2002: 19 of 217 countries reported2003: 13 of 217 countries reported2004: 18 of 217 countries reported2005: 20 of 217 countries reported2006: 28 of 217 countries reported2007: 29 of 217 countries reported2008: 32 of 217 countries reported2009: 31 of 217 countries reported2010: 48 of 217 countries reported2011: 53 of 217 countries reported2012: 44 of 217 countries reported2013: 33 of 217 countries reported2014: 45 of 217 countries reported2015: 47 of 217 countries reported2016: 45 of 217 countries reported2017: 44 of 217 countries reported2018: 49 of 217 countries reported2019: 56 of 217 countries reported2020: 42 of 217 countries reported2021: 44 of 217 countries reported2022: 45 of 217 countries reported2023: 33 of 217 countries reported2024: 29 of 217 countries reported19702024
Best year 2019 with 56 of 217 · most recent 2024 with 29. A short bar means the world did not measure, not that the value fell.

Highest · 2022

Tuvalu100.0
Uzbekistan100.0
San Marino99.9
Turkmenistan99.9
Armenia99.8
Georgia99.6
Serbia99.3
Uruguay98.8

Lowest · 2022

Niger35.6
Burkina Faso40.9
Benin51.4
Somalia, Fed. Rep.54.1
Ethiopia60.5
Mozambique61.7
Guinea-Bissau63.9
Bhutan64.9

Read with care

  • · Sparse. Reported only when a country runs a census or survey carrying the question, so many countries have long gaps.
  • · Often self-reported or household-reported rather than tested, which tends to overstate ability.

What we can actually see

Coverage is wildly uneven, and that unevenness is a finding rather than a footnote. Life expectancy is near-universal; the survey-based indicators are not. Sorted by how much of the world reports at all.

IndicatorCountriesYearsRead atObservations
Life expectancy217 / 2171960–20242024 (217)14,071
Fertility rate217 / 2171960–20242024 (217)14,073
Population217 / 2171960–20252025 (217)14,292
Electricity access216 / 2171990–20242024 (215)6,747
GDP per capita214 / 2171960–20252025 (186)11,764
Internet use213 / 2171990–20252024 (182)6,224
Primary enrolment209 / 2171970–20252023 (166)7,495
GDP per capita (PPP)203 / 2171990–20252025 (185)7,020
Education spending203 / 2171970–20252022 (164)5,124
CO₂ per person203 / 2171970–20242024 (203)11,165
Under-5 mortality196 / 2171960–20242024 (196)11,861
Maternal mortality194 / 2171985–20232023 (194)7,566
Inflation193 / 2171960–20252025 (165)9,136
Health spending193 / 2172000–20242023 (192)4,562
Unemployment187 / 2171991–20252025 (182)6,531
Extreme poverty171 / 2171963–20252021 (81)2,430
Income inequality (Gini)171 / 2171963–20252021 (81)2,430
Adult literacy170 / 2171970–20242022 (45)1,121
Military spending164 / 2171960–20242024 (147)7,909
Child stunting163 / 2171983–20242018 (48)1,129
Safe drinking water151 / 2172000–20242024 (148)3,716

Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators. Nothing here is interpolated — where a country never reported, it is absent rather than estimated. Browse every country →