BARMM records PH’s lowest literacy rate at 81% — PSA

Among all regions in the Philippines, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) recorded the lowest basic literacy rate at 81.0 percent, with 14.4 percent of its population aged five and older unable to read or write.

A strong correlation between food insecurity and low literacy has been reported in Mindanao and other underdeveloped areas, according to an emerging analysis from the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS). 

National Statistician and Civil Registrar General Claire Dennis Mapa said that data and further findings on the matter will be presented at the upcoming National Convention on Statistics (NCS) in October 2025.

Meanwhile, in a presentation of the 2024 Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) results, he noted a significant gap in literacy rates among regions, particularly between provinces and highly urbanized cities.  

Tawi-Tawi, the southernmost province in the country, located in BARMM, scored the lowest basic and functional literacy rate among all 82 provinces. 

It has a basic literacy rate of just 60.9 percent and a functional literacy rate of 33.2 percent, which means that two out of every three Tawi-Tawi residents aged 10 to 64 are unable to fully comprehend what they read.

The other provinces with the lowest functional literacy rate are Davao Occidental, Zamboanga del Sur, Northern Samar, Basilan, Sarangani, Samar, Agusan del Norte, Sultan Kudarat, and Lanao del Norte. 

When the initial survey was released in April, Senate Committee on Basic Education Chairperson Senator Win Gatchalian took note of BARMM’s low literacy rate. 

“If you look at BARMM […], half a million people there cannot read, write, or compute. So, that’s a staggering number,” Gatchalian said during the committee’s public hearing. 

“Again, in Tawi-Tawi, if you want to bring businesses there, have meaningful livelihood programs, [it is] very difficult if people cannot even understand and comprehend a simple story,” he added. 

Also, after the 2024 FLEMMS, Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sonny Angara vowed that the agency is working towards interventions aimed at intensifying remedial and literacy programs and the use of data in schools. 

The 2024 literacy survey applied the updated definitions for basic and functional literacy, now requiring ‘comprehension’ as a key factor for functional literacy.

This is also the first time the PSA has created literacy data for every province and city.