There are 9,152 illiterate people in Cyprus, of which 6,776 are women. Moreover 5,575 have never attended school, while 24,751 did not graduate from primary school, Commissioner for Volunteerism and NGOs Yiannis Yiannaki said in a statement on the occasion of the International Literacy Day celebrated every year on 8th September.

Yiannaki noted that according to the latest data of the Statistical Service, over 100,000 citizens in Cyprus have only attended and graduated from the primary school.

Yiannaki said that education is one of the high ranking values in the Cypriot society, noting that literacy is necessary to eradicate poverty and unemployment, achieve gender equality and ensure sustainable development, peace and democracy.

It is a “human right, a tool for personal empowerment and means towards social and human development,” he noted.