"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."
* The complete rankings are available at: www.ccsu.edu/wmln
TOP 20 MOST LITERATE NATIONS:
1. Finland
2. Norway
3. Iceland
4. Denmark
5. Sweden
6. Switzerland
7. United States
8. Germany
9. Latvia
10. Netherlands
11. Canada
12. France
13. Luxembourg
14. Estonia
15. New Zealand
16. Australia
17. United Kingdom
18. Belgium
19. Israel
20. Poland
BOTTOM 20 NATIONS:
42. Mexico
43. Croatia
44. Chile
45. China
46. Brazil and Serbia
48. South Korea
49. Singapore
50. Costa Rica
51. Argentina
52. Morocco
53. Turkey
54. Georgia
55. Qatar
56. Thailand
57. Botswana
58. Tunisia
59. Colombia
60. Albania
61. Indonesia
PATRICE DOUGAN
EDUCATION REPORTER