There are approximately nine out of every 10 persons in Negros Island that have basic literacy, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported.
Based on data released by the agency on its website on June 30, Negros Island Region had a basic literacy rate of 87 percent in 2024 which translates to 4,330,000 Suijodnons and Negrosanons aged five years old and above
However, this rate is the second lowest among the Visayas regions with Central Visayas at 92.2 percent, Western Visayas – 89.6, and Eastern Visayas – 85.1 percent.
PSA defines a basic literate person as one who can read and write a simple message in any language or dialect with understanding, and to compute or perform basic mathematical operations.
The PSA reports said 8.6 percent or about 374,000 residents in the NIR were illiterate or those who cannot read and write, and 4.4 percent or 189,000 are low literate or those who can only read and write.
In terms of functional literacy, NIR was at 70.1 percent or 7 of every 10 individuals can read, write, compute and comprehend.
This translates to about 3,519,000 individuals in the region ages 10 and above.
Western Visayas has the highest number of functional literal persons in the Visayas with 74.8, followed by Central Visayas with 70.2, and Eastern Visayas with 67 percent.
The PSA also said that functional literacy includes a higher level of comprehension skills, such as integrating two or more pieces of information and making inferences based on the given information.
Overall, the country has 90 percent basic literacy rate and 74.1 percent functional literacy rate.*