RAS question
What is the literacy rate of Rajasthan as per Census 2011?
Correct answer: (B) 66.1%.
As per Census 2011, Rajasthan's literacy rate was 66.1 per cent.
Explanation
The Rajasthan Economic Review 2025-26 records Rajasthan's overall literacy rate as 66.11 per cent in Census 2011; rounded to one decimal place, this is 66.1 per cent. It also notes that the rate rose from 60.40 per cent in 2001 to 66.11 per cent in 2011. In Census 2011, male literacy was 79.2 per cent and female literacy was 52.1 per cent. Therefore, 66.1 per cent is the overall state rate, not a later estimate, a district-level figure, or the rate for either sex. For this reason, option B is correct.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) 73.0 per cent is only a comparison figure; Rajasthan's official state-level literacy rate in Census 2011 was 66.11 per cent.
- (C) 80 per cent is close to the male literacy figure of 79.2 per cent, but it is not Rajasthan's overall literacy rate of 66.1 per cent in Census 2011.
- (D) 55 per cent is far below the overall literacy rate of 66.1 per cent and is closer to the female literacy figure of 52.1 per cent than to the total.
Concept
This question belongs to the demography section of Rajasthan Geography and tests understanding of census indicators such as literacy. RAS repeatedly asks such figures because literacy connects population geography with education, gender disparity, social conditions, and regional and district-level development analysis.