11. Benin
Literacy rate: 42.4% Male: 55.2% Female: 30.3%
Until recently, parents had to pay school fees for their children to have access to even primary education. In a country as poor as Benin, this meant that not many children learned to read and write. This law has been since abolished and Benin instituted free education, which led to a dramatic increase in students’ numbers and vast improvement of the education level.
