In 2016, the global literacy rate of adult women was 83% compared to 90% for adult men. That 7% spread equates to a 263-million-person difference – that’s about the population size of Indonesia, the fourth largest country in the world. The good news is that the literacy rate globally has increased by 17.5% in 40 years, and the gender gap in literacy has decreased from 61% for women and 77% for men.