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World's Most Literate Nations Ranked

March 07, 2016

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 7th and 11th 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

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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)

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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 38th, Brazil 43rd,
and Costa Rica comes in at 46th. 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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Contact:

Mark McLaughlin, Assoc. VP of Marketing & Communications, 860.832.0065, mclaughlinm@ccsu.edu

Janice Palmer, Media Relations Officer, 860.832.1791, 860.538.2649, palmerj@ccsu.edu

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