Home / All Bamwor Indexes / IBED — Bamwor Education Index What this index measures The Education Index produces a composite score (0–100) reflecting the overall educational attainment and knowledge infrastructure of a country. It combines three indicators: literacy rate (direct education outcome), GDP per capita (investment capacity in education), and life expectancy (correlated with education quality through health outcomes). Countries with high literacy, wealth, and longevity score highest.
Methodology Literacy rate is log-transformed. GDP per capita and life expectancy are also log-transformed. Each component is min-max normalized to 0–33.33, then summed for a final score of 0–100. Only countries with literacy rate data are included.
Formula IBED = norm(log(literacy), 0–33.3) + norm(log(gdp_pc), 0–33.3) + norm(log(life_exp), 0–33.3)Variables used Literacy rate % (Bamwor database) GDP per capita in USD (Bamwor database) Life expectancy in years (Bamwor database) How to interpret Score 80–100: Highly educated, developed nation. Score 50–80: Good education system with room for improvement. Score 20–50: Developing education infrastructure. Score 0–20: Significant education challenges.
Limitations Literacy rate is a basic measure that doesn’t capture education quality, STEM skills, or higher education attainment. Many developed countries lack literacy data (assumed near 100%). GDP per capita and life expectancy are proxies, not direct education metrics.
Full Ranking Rank Country Literacy % GDP/capita IBED
1 Singapore 97.7% $132,600 99.35 2 San Marino 99.9% $70,900 93.80 3 Italy 99.3% $53,100 90.71 4 Spain 99.7% $48,400 90.22 6 Bahrain 97.8% $59,100 88.71 7 Puerto Rico 92.4% $44,100 86.70 8 Saudi Arabia 97.9% $62,700 86.22 9 Kuwait 96.5% $45,400 85.90 10 Panama 96.3% $36,400 84.04 11 Chile 96.4% $30,200 83.83 12 Uruguay 98.9% $32,000 83.67 13 Romania 99.2% $40,600 83.48 14 Oman 97.3% $36,700 82.74 15 Cuba 97.7% $23,700 82.45 16 Argentina 99.1% $26,500 82.41 17 Montenegro 98.5% $27,900 82.03 18 Turkey 97.3% $35,300 81.83 19 Malaysia 95.8% $34,100 81.08 20 China 96.7% $23,800 80.93 21 Albania 97.7% $18,900 80.80 22 Maldives 98.2% $23,400 80.06 23 Russia 99.9% $41,700 79.44 24 Belarus 99.9% $29,000 79.40 25 Serbia 99.3% $26,900 79.32 26 Armenia 99.8% $20,100 78.87 27 Azerbaijan 99.8% $22,100 78.74 28 Guyana 85.6% $70,300 78.59 29 Thailand 91.1% $21,700 78.19 30 Mauritius 94.3% $27,300 78.05 31 Paraguay 94.9% $16,300 78.02 32 Brazil 94.8% $19,600 76.89 33 Georgia 99.7% $25,000 76.54 34 Mexico 95.0% $22,000 76.09 35 Palau 100.0% $15,800 75.95 36 Colombia 95.3% $18,500 75.34 37 Lebanon 92.0% $11,300 75.12 38 Vietnam 96.1% $14,400 75.07 39 The Dominican 94.0% $24,200 74.47 40 Sri Lanka 92.7% $13,800 74.44 41 Uzbekistan 100.0% $10,500 74.23 42 Turkmenistan 99.9% $18,000 74.06 43 Ecuador 96.3% $13,900 73.76 44 Mongolia 98.6% $16,800 72.74 45 Indonesia 96.0% $14,500 72.70 46 Jordan 94.8% $9,500 72.35 47 Tunisia 86.2% $12,700 72.31 48 Iran 86.0% $16,200 72.24 49 El Salvador 89.8% $11,700 71.62 50 Ukraine 100.0% $16,300 71.53 51 Tonga 91.1% $7,100 70.72 52 Samoa 98.0% $6,900 70.45 53 Belize 87.9% $13,300 70.33 54 Egypt 79.5% $16,800 69.70 55 Marshall Islands 95.8% $7,200 69.61 56 South Africa 91.2% $13,600 69.17 57 Gabon 88.9% $18,900 69.09 58 Bolivia 95.6% $9,800 68.95 59 Cabo Verde 88.5% $9,900 68.60 60 Philippines 98.5% $10,400 68.48 61 Iraq 84.1% $12,700 68.21 62 Peru 93.7% $15,700 67.82 63 West Bank 98.0% $3,800 67.31 64 Guatemala 82.1% $12,600 67.28 65 Nauru 96.6% $12,600 66.93 66 Venezuela 97.2% $4,900 66.84 67 Gaza, Gaza Strip 98.0% $3,800 66.37 68 Syria 94.4% $4,200 65.30 69 Bangladesh 79.0% $8,500 65.27 70 Honduras 88.2% $6,600 64.69 71 Tuvalu 100.0% $5,800 63.26 72 Vanuatu 88.0% $3,200 62.41 73 Burma 93.5% $5,300 62.11 74 Bhutan 64.9% $14,600 61.82 75 India 81.7% $9,800 60.15 76 Namibia 87.6% $10,300 59.99 77 Kiribati 98.6% $3,300 58.66 78 Ghana 76.5% $7,100 58.17 79 Laos 75.6% $8,600 57.95 81 Cambodia 71.9% $7,000 57.64 82 Zimbabwe 93.2% $3,500 56.09 83 Nepal 68.7% $5,000 55.75 84 Tanzania 78.2% $3,700 55.24 85 Eswatini 90.8% $10,400 55.18 86 Timor-Leste 72.5% $4,200 53.64 87 Togo 72.6% $2,800 52.64 88 Papua New Guinea 70.1% $4,300 52.44 89 Comoros 75.8% $3,600 51.09 90 Rwanda 78.8% $3,300 50.34 91 Pakistan 58.9% $5,500 49.35 92 Uganda 69.1% $2,900 49.05 93 Malawi 70.2% $1,600 48.93 94 Zambia 71.1% $3,700 48.51 95 Cameroon 72.6% $4,900 47.99 96 Madagascar 74.7% $1,700 46.83 97 Angola 66.2% $7,300 46.53 98 Mauritania 59.5% $6,400 46.00 99 Lesotho 90.4% $2,600 45.43 100 Haiti 68.0% $2,800 44.04 101 Senegal 50.4% $4,500 43.95 102 Ethiopia 60.5% $2,900 43.23 103 Nigeria 63.2% $5,700 42.81 104 Guinea-Bissau 63.9% $2,700 40.84 105 Burundi 71.4% $800 39.91 106 The Gambia 51.6% $3,000 39.71 107 DRC 73.6% $1,500 38.85 108 Côte d'Ivoire 50.0% $6,700 38.41 109 Benin 51.4% $3,900 35.43 110 Guinea 39.6% $4,000 30.05 111 Mozambique 61.7% $1,500 28.79 112 Burkina Faso 41.4% $2,500 27.79 113 Sierra Leone 43.6% $3,100 25.09 114 Mali 35.5% $2,900 23.30 115 Somalia 54.1% $1,400 22.40 116 Niger 35.6% $1,800 17.62 117 Chad 30.6% $2,600 14.70 119 Afghanistan 37.3% $2,000 11.55 How to cite this index Bamwor. "IBED — Bamwor Education Index." https://bamwor.com/en/indexes/education-index. Accessed 2026-04-06. Data: CIA World Factbook, GeoNames. Updated Q1 2026.Data Sources CIA World Factbook — Country population and area data (public domain).GeoNames — City population data, administrative divisions (CC BY 4.0).
