NZ fifth most literate country in world

New Zealand is the fifth most literate country in the world.

In a newly released study, The World's Most Literate Nations, New Zealand is ranked in the top five - joining Nordic countries Finland, Iceland, Denmark and Sweden in claiming the top spots.

New Zealand ranked higher than Germany (9), Canada (10), the US (11), UK (14) and Australia (15).

The study, conducted by John W Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Connecticut, looked at literate behaviours 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," Mr Miller said.

The team examined data from 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 is that these kinds of literate behaviours are critical to the success of individuals and nations in the knowledge-based economics that define our global future," Mr Miller said.

The study looks at two aspects of literacy - achievement in two international tests, Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA); and literate behaviour characteristics, which includes population, newspapers, libraries, and years of schooling.

One consistent finding, according to Mr 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, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway earn five of the top six slots in the study, largely because "their monolithic culture values reading", Mr Miller said.

He also points out that the rankings would be "very different" if the PIRLS and PISA test scores 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.

"When factors such as library size and accessibility are added in, the Pacific Rim nations drop dramatically."

Top 20 most literate nations

1. Finland

2. Iceland

3. Denmark

4. Sweden

5. New Zealand

6. Norway

7. Switzerland

8. Latvia

9. Germany

10. Canada