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Overcoming barriers:
Human mobility and development

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Human Development Report 2009

HHuman development index 2007 and its components
Adult literacy rate (% aged 15 and above)Excel

HDI Rank Country 2007 1
1 Norway .. 2
2 Australia .. 2
3 Iceland .. 2
4 Canada .. 2
5 Ireland .. 2
6 Netherlands .. 2
7 Sweden .. 2
8 France .. 2
9 Switzerland .. 2
10 Japan .. 2
11 Luxembourg .. 2
12 Finland .. 2
13 United States .. 2
14 Austria .. 2
15 Spain 97.9 3
16 Denmark .. 2
17 Belgium .. 2
18 Italy 98.9 4
19 Liechtenstein .. 2
20 New Zealand .. 2
21 United Kingdom .. 2
22 Germany .. 2
23 Singapore 94.4 4
24 Hong Kong, China (SAR) .. 5
25 Greece 97.1 4
26 Korea (Republic of) .. 2
27 Israel 97.1 6
28 Andorra .. 2
29 Slovenia 99.7 4 2
30 Brunei Darussalam 94.9 4
31 Kuwait 94.5 3
32 Cyprus 97.7 4
33 Qatar 93.1 3
34 Portugal 94.9 4
35 United Arab Emirates 90.0 3
36 Czech Republic .. 2
37 Barbados .. 2 5
38 Malta 92.4 7
39 Bahrain 88.8 4
40 Estonia 99.8 4 2
41 Poland 99.3 4 2
42 Slovakia .. 2
43 Hungary 98.9 4
44 Chile 96.5 4
45 Croatia 98.7 4
46 Lithuania 99.7 4 2
47 Antigua and Barbuda 99.0 7
48 Latvia 99.8 4 2
49 Argentina 97.6 4
50 Uruguay 97.9 3
51 Cuba 99.8 4 2
52 Bahamas .. 5
53 Mexico 92.8 3
54 Costa Rica 95.9 4
55 Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 86.8 4
56 Oman 84.4 4
57 Seychelles 91.8 7
58 Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 95.2 3
59 Saudi Arabia 85.0 4
60 Panama 93.4 4
61 Bulgaria 98.3 4
62 Saint Kitts and Nevis 97.8 8
63 Romania 97.6 4
64 Trinidad and Tobago 98.7 4
65 Montenegro 96.4 9 7
66 Malaysia 91.9 4
67 Serbia 96.4 9 7
68 Belarus 99.7 4 2
69 Saint Lucia 94.8 10
70 Albania 99.0 4 2
71 Russian Federation 99.5 4 2
72 Macedonia (the Former Yugoslav Rep. of) 97.0 4
73 Dominica 88.0 10
74 Grenada 96.0 10
75 Brazil 90.0 3
76 Bosnia and Herzegovina 96.7 11
77 Colombia 92.7 3
78 Peru 89.6 3
79 Turkey 88.7 3
80 Ecuador 91.0 7
81 Mauritius 87.4 4
82 Kazakhstan 99.6 4 2
83 Lebanon 89.6 3
84 Armenia 99.5 4 2
85 Ukraine 99.7 4 2
86 Azerbaijan 99.5 2 3
87 Thailand 94.1 4
88 Iran (Islamic Republic of) 82.3 3
89 Georgia 100.0 2 12
90 Dominican Republic 89.1 4
91 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 88.1 10
92 China 93.3 4
93 Belize 75.1 10
94 Samoa 98.7 4
95 Maldives 97.0 4
96 Jordan 91.1 3
97 Suriname 90.4 4
98 Tunisia 77.7 4
99 Tonga 99.2 4 2
100 Jamaica 86.0 4
101 Paraguay 94.6 3
102 Sri Lanka 90.8 3
103 Gabon 86.2 4
104 Algeria 75.4 4
105 Philippines 93.4 4
106 El Salvador 82.0 7
107 Syrian Arab Republic 83.1 4
108 Fiji .. 5
109 Turkmenistan 99.5 4 2
110 Occupied Palestinian Territories 93.8 3
111 Indonesia 92.0 3
112 Honduras 83.6 3
113 Bolivia 90.7 3
114 Guyana .. 5
115 Mongolia 97.3 4
116 Viet Nam 90.3 7
117 Moldova 99.2 4 2
118 Equatorial Guinea 87.0 11
119 Uzbekistan 96.9 11
120 Kyrgyzstan 99.3 4 2
121 Cape Verde 83.8 4
122 Guatemala 73.2 4
123 Egypt 66.4 7
124 Nicaragua 78.0 7
125 Botswana 82.9 4
126 Vanuatu 78.1 4
127 Tajikistan 99.6 4 2
128 Namibia 88.0 4
129 South Africa 88.0 4
130 Morocco 55.6 4
131 Sao Tome and Principe 87.9 4
132 Bhutan 52.8 7
133 Lao People's Democratic Republic 72.7 7
134 India 66.0 4
135 Solomon Islands 76.6 6
136 Congo 81.1 4
137 Cambodia 76.3 4
138 Myanmar 89.9 11
139 Comoros 75.1 4
140 Yemen 58.9 4
141 Pakistan 54.2 3
142 Swaziland 79.6 11
143 Angola 67.4 11
144 Nepal 56.5 4
145 Madagascar 70.7 11
146 Bangladesh 53.5 4
147 Kenya 73.6 11
148 Papua New Guinea 57.8 4
149 Haiti 62.1 4
150 Sudan 60.9 11 13
151 Tanzania (United Republic of) 72.3 4
152 Ghana 65.0 4
153 Cameroon 67.9 3
154 Mauritania 55.8 4
155 Djibouti .. 5
156 Lesotho 82.2 3
157 Uganda 73.6 4
158 Nigeria 72.0 4
159 Togo 53.2 11
160 Malawi 71.8 4
161 Benin 40.5 4
162 Timor-Leste 50.1 14
163 Côte d'Ivoire 48.7 11
164 Zambia 70.6 4
165 Eritrea 64.2 4
166 Senegal 41.9 3
167 Rwanda 64.9 11
168 Gambia .. 5
169 Liberia 55.5 4
170 Guinea 29.5 11
171 Ethiopia 35.9 3
172 Mozambique 44.4 4
173 Guinea-Bissau 64.6 4
174 Burundi 59.3 11
175 Chad 31.8 4
176 Congo (Democratic Republic of the) 67.2 11
177 Burkina Faso 28.7 3
178 Mali 26.2 3
179 Central African Republic 48.6 11
180 Sierra Leone 38.1 4
181 Afghanistan 28.0 11
182 Niger 28.7 3
Other UN member states
Iraq 74.1 11
Kiribati ..
Korea (Democratic People's Rep. of) ..
Marshall Islands ..
Micronesia (Federated States of) ..
Monaco .. 2
Nauru ..
Palau 91.9 15 7
San Marino .. 2
Somalia ..
Tuvalu ..
Zimbabwe 91.2 4

Notes :
1 - Data refer to national literacy estimates from censuses or surveys conducted between 1999 and 2007, unless otherwise specified. Due to differences in methodology and timeliness of underlying data, comparisons across countries and over time should be made with caution. For more details, see http://www.uis.unesco.org/.
2 - For the purposes of calculating the HDI, a value of 99.0% was applied.
3 - Data are from a national household survey.
4 - UNESCO Institute for Statistics estimates based on its Global Age-specific Literacy Projections model, April 2009.
5 - In the absence of recent data, estimates for 2005 from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2003). Correspondence on adult and youth literacy rates. March. Montreal, based on outdated census or survey information, were used and should be interpreted with caution: the Bahamas 95.8, Barbados 99.7, Djibouti 70.3, Fiji 94.4, the Gambia 42.5, Guyana 99.0 and Hong Kong, China (SAR) 94.6.
6 - National estimate.
7 - Data are from a national census of population.
8 - Data are from the Secretariat of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, based on national sources.
9 - Data refer to Serbia and Montenegro prior to its separation into two independent states in June 2006. Data exclude Kosovo.
10 - Data are from the Secretariat of the Caribbean Community, based on national sources.
11 - Data are from UNICEF's Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey.
12 - UNICEF (2004). The State of the World's Children 2005. New York: UNICEF.
13 - Data refer to North Sudan only.
14 - UNDP (2006b). Timor-Leste: Human Development Report 2006: The Path Out of Poverty. Dili: UNDP.
15 - Data refer to a year other than that specified.

Sources :
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2009a). Correspondence on adult and youth literacy rates. February. Montreal.
Symbols :
.. Data not available
(.) Greater (or less) than zero but small enough to be rounded off to zero at the displayed number of decimal points
< Less than
- Not applicable
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