At least 26 percent of rural families in India and 8 percent of urban families have no literate member older than 15, according to a National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) report.

Indo-Asian News Service quoted the report Tuesday as saying that almost half of rural families still have no literate female member older than the age of 15.

In the cities, the figure was 20 percent, the report said.

India's national literacy rate was 64 percent in 2004-05 fiscal year, 55 percent in rural areas and 75 percent in urban, the report said.

Sixty-four percent of rural Indian males and 45 percent of rural females were literate. The literacy rates among their urban counterparts stood at 81 percent and 69 percent, respectively.

But the literacy level remained dramatically unbalanced among different states. In north Indian state Bihar, 38 percent of rural residents older than 15 was illiterate, while in south Indian state Kerala, the figure was only 3 percent.

Among urban residents older than 15, only one percent in Kerala was illiterate while the ratio was 16 percent in west Indian state Rajasthan.

Source: Xinhua