The Asia-Pacific Literacy Data Base is jointly developed by the Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) and UNESCO with the close collaboration of literacy, non-formal education and statistics experts from international organisations, government sectors and NGOs of the Member States in the region.

Literacy, one of the most crucial global issues today, is essential for life-long learning, human dignity, mutual respect, improvement of quality of life, and culture of peace in every society, as well as for creating a "Learning Society" as a whole.

In the belief and hope that the Data Base is contributing to "Education for All" in the region by providing reliable and up-to-date information and building a regional network, we extend our wholehearted appreciation to all those involved in developing this Date Base.

For further improvement and expansion of the Data Base, we welcome your suggestions and/or comments. Contact information are as follows:

Note regarding data used in the Data Base

The maps in this Data Base were designed from the pre-developed maps in the PopMap software provided by the UNFPA. Maps at national and sub-national levels are colour-coded based on standard deviations calculated individually from the corresponding country's data. All figures mentioned in "Literacy Facts and Figures" are official data from UN, UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank when available. All other data are provided by the governments of the participating countries when data sources are available. For all specialised terms appearing in this Data Base, please refer to the "Literacy Glossary" in which definitions/explanations are provided in detail.