MANILA: The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Wednesday said that literacy rate in the Philippines rose to 97 percent, with an improvement of 1.2 percentage points over the previous five years.
According to the PSA, 97.6 million Filipinos over five and 94.6 million are literate or can read and write a basic message in any language or dialect, according to data from the 2020 Census of Population and Housing study.
Manila leads in literatcy rate
With a literacy rate of 98.9%, Metro Manila had the highest percentage, while the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in the southern Philippines had the lowest at 86.4 percent.
The report also revealed that the literacy rate in 2020 was slightly higher among females than among males, at 97.1% compared to 96.8%, continuing the trend seen in 2015.
Data show that education science is the most popular course among college graduates, with nearly one in six graduates holding a degree in this field. Men prefer courses in business and administration, whereas women choose education and science. More women than men pursue post-baccalaureate education.
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