Global literacy varies widely across regions due to differences in access to education, economic development, gender equality, and government investment. Visualizing literacy rates on a map, as shown below, makes these geographic patterns immediately clear by highlighting regional disparities and clusters that might be harder to see in tables or text. The map allows policymakers and researchers to quickly identify areas of greatest need and better target resources to improve educational outcomes.

The project can be accessed here:
https://opendata.technikum-wien.at/literacymap/

This project has been realized by the students Francesco Pasquale de Ceglia, Jasmin Lizenberger, Anna Lukonina and Miriana Salemi in January 2026 as part of the course Data Ethics and Open Data at the UAS Technikum Wien as part of the StudyATHome hub. This course is also part of the project IoCEST – Internationalisation of the Curricula in Engineering, Environmental, Smart Cities and Sport Technologies which has been funded by the City of Vienna.

References

UNESCO – Education – Literacy
https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/browser/EDUCATION/UIS-EducationOPRI/illiteracy
UNESCO – Socio-economic indicators
https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/browser/DEMOGRAPHIC_SOCIOECONOMIC/UIS-DemSocEco/socio-economic
UNESCO – Demographic indicators
https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/browser/DEMOGRAPHIC_SOCIOECONOMIC/UIS-DemSocEco/demographic
UNESCO – Out-of-school children, adolescents and youth
https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/browser/EDUCATION/UIS-EducationOPRI/out-of-school