The focus of this lesson is to understand the relationship between literacy rates and the role of women in countries with different levels of development. It is important to understand how important literacy rates are to the standard of living in a country.

Literacy rate refers to the percentage of people in a nation that can read. The higher the number, the more developed a country is considered to be. The Human Development Index compares several combined features that are used to determine the level of development on a country.

Interactive exercise. Assistance may be required. Click on the "Education" section of the graphic below.

This activity might not be viewable on your mobile device.Video segment. Assistance may be required. Watch the following video to learn more about the Human Development Index:

Source: People First: The Human Development Reports, Human Development Reports