World's Most Literate Nations Ranked

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CCSU NEWS RELEASE

WORLD’S MOST LITERATE NATIONS RANKED     For Release: March 9, 2016

NEW BRITAIN, CT:  The World’s Most Literate Nations (WMLN) study, the first to analyze large-scale trends in literate behavior and literacy in more than 60 countries, finds the Nordic countries (Finland, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, and Sweden,) are among the five most literate nations in the world, while the U.S. and Canada rank 7^th and 11^th respectively.

The study, conducted by John W. Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, CT., is used as a lens to view literate behaviors and their supporting resources -- five categories such as size and number of libraries and newspaper readership.

“The power of literacy and the value of being part of a literate world is often taken for granted,” observes Miller. Much of his academic work during the past 40 years has been devoted to literacy issues. For the past 12 years, he produced the highly regarded “America’s Most Literate Cities” survey (2003-2014), in collaboration with CCSU’s Center for Public Policy and Social Research. The team examined data for 200 countries, but due to lack of relevant statistics, only 61 made the cut.

“The factors we examined present a complex and nuanced portrait of a nation’s cultural vitality, and what the rankings strongly suggest and world literacy demonstrates,” Miller explains, “is that these kinds of literate behaviors are critical to the success of individuals and nations in the knowledge-based economics that define our global future.”

HOW NATIONS RANKED

Country	Rank	Country	Rank	Country	Rank
Finland	1	Malta	21	Romania	41
Norway	2	South Korea	22	Portugal	42
Iceland	3	Czech Republic	23	Brazil	43
Denmark	4	Ireland	24	Croatia	44
Sweden	5	Italy	25	Qatar	45
Switzerland	6	Austria	26	Costa Rica	46
United States	7	Russia	27	Argentina	47
Germany	8	Slovenia	28	Mauritius	48
Latvia	9	Hungary	29	Serbia	49
Netherlands	10	Slovak Republic	30	Turkey	50
Canada	11	Lithuania	31	Georgia	51
France	12	Japan	32	Tunisia	52
Luxembourg	13	Cyprus	33	Malaysia	53
Estonia	14	Bulgaria	34	Albania	54
New Zealand	15	Spain	35	Panama	55
Australia	16	Singapore	36	South Africa	56
United Kingdom	17	Chile	37	Colombia	57
Belgium	18	Mexico	38	Morocco	58
Israel	19	China	39	Thailand	59
Poland	20	Greece	40	Indonesia	60
				Botswana	61

 METHODOLOGY

Miller’s study synthesizes two types of variables: literacy achievement tests (PIRLS – Progress in International Reading Literacy Study and PISA – Programme for International Student Assessment) and literate behavior characteristics (population, newspapers, libraries, years of schooling). For details on methodology, go to www.ccsu.edu/WMLN.

 A companion book, “World Literacy: How Countries Rank And Why It Matters” (Routledge, 2016) authored by Miller and Michael C. McKenna, provides an extended analysis of many of the factors involved in this study and may be helpful in interpreting the results.

 “The factors we examine present a complex and nuanced portrait of a nation’s cultural vitality,” says Miller. “And what the rankings strongly suggest and world literacy demonstrates is that these kinds of literate behaviors are critical to the success of individuals and nations in the knowledge-based economies that define our global future.”

TRENDS

One consistent finding, according to Miller, is that “there is no meaningful correlation between years of compulsory schooling and educational expenditures on the one hand and test scores on the other.

 Finland, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, and Sweden earn the five top slots in the study, largely because “their monolithic culture values reading,” Miller says.

 He also points out that the rankings would be “very different” if educational outputs (PIRLS and PISA) were the only indices used. “The Pacific Rim countries, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and China, would top the list if test performance was the only measure. Finland would be the only non-Pacific Rim country to rank high,” he states, and adds, “When factors such as library size and accessibility are added in, the Pacific Rim nations drop dramatically.”

 The Western Hemisphere countries do not fare well overall in the study. Mexico ranks 38^th, Brazil 43^rd, and Costa Rica comes in at 46^th. For the U.S., Miller says, while the years of compulsory education have increased, the practice of literate behaviors has decreased, and the ability to read stays relatively the same. “It is not so much that we are slowing down in this world race, but rather that others are speeding up,” he emphasizes.

The complete rankings are available online at www.ccsu.edu/wmln.

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