8. Ethiopia
Literacy rate: 39% Male:49.1% Female: 28.9%
A disastrous civil war that led to Eritrea becoming independent country has swallowed a large portion of Ethiopia’s budget. Education was affected as much as every other part of the society. Fortunately, the situation is improving. In 1994, some 3 million pupils were attending primary school in a country of 90 million inhabitants. In 2008, that numbers grew to 15.6 million.
