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Overcoming barriers:
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Human Development Report 2009

I-1Human and income poverty
Adult illiteracy rate (% aged 15 and above)Excel

HDI Rank Country 1999-2007 1
1 Norway ..
2 Australia ..
3 Iceland ..
4 Canada ..
5 Ireland ..
6 Netherlands ..
7 Sweden ..
8 France ..
9 Switzerland ..
10 Japan ..
11 Luxembourg ..
12 Finland ..
13 United States ..
14 Austria ..
15 Spain 2.1 2
16 Denmark ..
17 Belgium ..
18 Italy 1.1 3
19 Liechtenstein ..
20 New Zealand ..
21 United Kingdom ..
22 Germany ..
23 Singapore 5.6 3
24 Hong Kong, China (SAR) .. 4
25 Greece 2.9 3
26 Korea (Republic of) .. 5
27 Israel 2.9 6
28 Andorra ..
29 Slovenia 0.3 3 5
30 Brunei Darussalam 5.1 3
31 Kuwait 5.5 2
32 Cyprus 2.3 3
33 Qatar 6.9 2
34 Portugal 5.1 3
35 United Arab Emirates 10.0 2
36 Czech Republic .. 5
37 Barbados .. 4 5
38 Malta 7.6 7
39 Bahrain 11.2 3
40 Estonia 0.2 3 5
41 Poland 0.7 3 5
42 Slovakia .. 5
43 Hungary 1.1 3
44 Chile 3.5 3
45 Croatia 1.3 3
46 Lithuania 0.3 3 5
47 Antigua and Barbuda 1.1 7
48 Latvia 0.2 3 5
49 Argentina 2.4 3
50 Uruguay 2.1 2
51 Cuba 0.2 3 5
52 Bahamas .. 4
53 Mexico 7.2 2
54 Costa Rica 4.1 3
55 Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 13.2 3
56 Oman 15.6 3
57 Seychelles 8.2 7
58 Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 4.8 2
59 Saudi Arabia 15.0 3
60 Panama 6.6 3
61 Bulgaria 1.7 3
62 Saint Kitts and Nevis 2.2 8
63 Romania 2.4 3
64 Trinidad and Tobago 1.3 3
65 Montenegro 3.6 7 9
66 Malaysia 8.1 3
67 Serbia 3.6 7 9
68 Belarus 0.3 3 5
69 Saint Lucia 5.2 10
70 Albania 1.0 3 5
71 Russian Federation 0.5 3 5
72 Macedonia (the Former Yugoslav Rep. of) 3.0 3
73 Dominica 12.0 10
74 Grenada 4.0 10
75 Brazil 10.0 2
76 Bosnia and Herzegovina 3.3 11
77 Colombia 7.3 2
78 Peru 10.4 2
79 Turkey 11.3 2
80 Ecuador 9.0 7
81 Mauritius 12.6 3
82 Kazakhstan 0.4 3 5
83 Lebanon 10.4 2
84 Armenia 0.5 3 5
85 Ukraine 0.3 3 5
86 Azerbaijan 0.5 2 5
87 Thailand 5.9 3
88 Iran (Islamic Republic of) 17.7 2
89 Georgia 0 5 12
90 Dominican Republic 10.9 3
91 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 11.9 10
92 China 6.7 3
93 Belize 24.9 10
94 Samoa 1.3 3
95 Maldives 3.0 3
96 Jordan 8.9 2
97 Suriname 9.6 3
98 Tunisia 22.3 3
99 Tonga 0.8 3 5
100 Jamaica 14.0 3
101 Paraguay 5.4 2
102 Sri Lanka 9.2 2
103 Gabon 13.8 3
104 Algeria 24.6 3
105 Philippines 6.6 3
106 El Salvador 18.0 7
107 Syrian Arab Republic 16.9 3
108 Fiji .. 4
109 Turkmenistan 0.5 3 5
110 Occupied Palestinian Territories 6.2 2
111 Indonesia 8.0 2
112 Honduras 16.4 2
113 Bolivia 9.3 2
114 Guyana .. 4
115 Mongolia 2.7 3
116 Viet Nam 9.7 7
117 Moldova 0.8 3 5
118 Equatorial Guinea 13.0 11
119 Uzbekistan 3.1 11
120 Kyrgyzstan 0.7 3 5
121 Cape Verde 16.2 3
122 Guatemala 26.8 3
123 Egypt 33.6 7
124 Nicaragua 22.0 7
125 Botswana 17.1 3
126 Vanuatu 21.9 3
127 Tajikistan 0.4 3 5
128 Namibia 12.0 3
129 South Africa 12.0 3
130 Morocco 44.4 3
131 Sao Tome and Principe 12.1 3
132 Bhutan 47.2 7
133 Lao People's Democratic Republic 27.3 7
134 India 34.0 3
135 Solomon Islands 23.4 6
136 Congo 18.9 3
137 Cambodia 23.7 3
138 Myanmar 10.1 11
139 Comoros 24.9 3
140 Yemen 41.1 3
141 Pakistan 45.8 2
142 Swaziland 20.4 11
143 Angola 32.6 11
144 Nepal 43.5 3
145 Madagascar 29.3 11
146 Bangladesh 46.5 3
147 Kenya 26.4 11
148 Papua New Guinea 42.2 3
149 Haiti 37.9 13 7
150 Sudan 39.1 11 14
151 Tanzania (United Republic of) 27.7 3
152 Ghana 35.0 3
153 Cameroon 32.1 2
154 Mauritania 44.2 3
155 Djibouti .. 4
156 Lesotho 17.8 2
157 Uganda 26.4 3
158 Nigeria 28.0 3
159 Togo 46.8 11
160 Malawi 28.2 3
161 Benin 59.5 3
162 Timor-Leste 49.9 15
163 Côte d'Ivoire 51.3 11
164 Zambia 29.4 3
165 Eritrea 35.8 3
166 Senegal 58.1 2
167 Rwanda 35.1 11
168 Gambia .. 4
169 Liberia 44.5 3
170 Guinea 70.5 11
171 Ethiopia 64.1 2
172 Mozambique 55.6 3
173 Guinea-Bissau 35.4 3
174 Burundi 40.7 11
175 Chad 68.2 3
176 Congo (Democratic Republic of the) 32.8 11
177 Burkina Faso 71.3 2
178 Mali 73.8 2
179 Central African Republic 51.4 11
180 Sierra Leone 61.9 3
181 Afghanistan 72.0 11
182 Niger 71.3 2
Other UN member states
Iraq 25.9 11
Kiribati ..
Korea (Democratic People's Rep. of) ..
Marshall Islands ..
Micronesia (Federated States of) ..
Monaco ..
Nauru ..
Palau 8.1 13 7
San Marino ..
Somalia ..
Tuvalu ..
Zimbabwe 8.8 3

Notes :
† Denotes indicators used to calcualte the human poverty index (HPI-1). For further details, see Technical note 1: www.hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/tn1
1 - Data refer to national illiteracy 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 - Data are from a national household survey.
3 - UNESCO Institute for Statistics estimates based on its Global Age-specific Literacy Projections model, April 2009.
4 - 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: Bahamas 4.2, Barbados 0.3, Djibouti 29.7, Fiji 5.6, Gambia 57.5, Guyana 1.0 and Hong Kong, China (SAR) 5.4.
5 - For the purposes of calculating the HPI-1 a value of 1% was assumed.
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 an earlier year than that specified.
14 - Data refer to North Sudan only.
15 - UNDP (2006b). Timor-Leste: Human Development Report 2006: The Path Out of Poverty. Dili: UNDP.

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
T Total