The literacy rate is the proportion of a population over age fifteen that can read and write. The map to the right, which is used by the UN to compute the HDI, indicates the
literacy rates by countries. According to the UN Statistical Division, Cuba and Estonia have the world's highest literacy rate at 99.8%. There is a reason for such surprising demographics: The UN no longer collects basic literacy statistics for many high-income countries who have consistently attained high levels of literacy. Thus, countries like Japan, Switzerland, U.S., and other MCDs are automatically assigned a 99% literacy rate. This potentially flaws some data, however because countries with 99% and above literacy rates receive the highest possible Education Index score when computing their HDI, the fraction of a percentage becomes insignificant. Information on literacy, while not a perfect measure of educational results, is probably the most easily available and valid for international comparisons. Low levels of literacy and education can impede the economic development of a country in the current rapidly changing, technology-driven world we now live in.
The second component of the Education Index, the gross enrollment ratio, is calculated by expressing the number of students enrolled in primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education, regardless of age, as a percentage of the population of official school age for the three levels. Called the co
mbined gross enrollment ratio (CGER), this figure incorporates all three levels of education within a country and is used, in part, to compute the HDI. Because the CGER is computed using all ages of students, it is possible for a country to have more students enrolled in school than there
are school age children (typically between the ages of 6-18). According to the UN's 2009 Human Development Report, Australia had the highest CGER at 114.2%, followed by New Zealand at 107.5%, and Greece at 101.6%. The U.S. has a CGER of 92.4% while Niger has the world's lowest at 27.2%.
Based upon the literacy rate and gross enrollment ratio, the UN is able to respectively assign each country an Education Index. 1 is the highest possible theoretical sco
re, indicating perfect education attainment. All countries considered to be developed countries possess a minimum score of 0.8 or above, though the vast majority of MCDs have indexes well above 0.9. The map to the right reflects the Education Index from the UN's 2007/2008 Human Development Report.
24 out of the 25 lowest Education Index countries are in Africa, with the South Asian country of Bhutan ranking 23rd lowest. A country's Education Index is comparable to its overall HDI score. Generally speaking, the higher the Education Index, the higher the HDI. However, Cuba and South Korea have one of the highest Education Indexes but only rank 26th and 51st, respectively, on global HDI rankings. Education is a crucial factor when computing a country's HDI and can affect a country's development in nearly every aspect. The table below shows some of the best and worst Education Indexes.
References
Education Index. (2009, December 5). Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Index
Human Development Report 2007/2008 (2009, June 12). United Nation Development Programme. Retrieved from http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_20072008_EN_Complete.pdf
Human Development Report 2009. (2009, September). Combined gross enrollment ratio in education. United Nation Development Programme. Retrieved from http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/indicators/90.html
Social Indicators: Indicators on Literacy. (2009, June). United Nations Statistical Division. Retrieved from http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/socind/literacy.htm
The World Factbook. (2008). Literacy (%). Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2103.html
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