The literacy rate in Jordan is 93%. The education system has been significant in the shift from a predominantly agrarian country to an industrialized nation. It ranks number one in the Arab World and is one of the highest in the developing world. UNESCO ranked Jordan's education system 18th worldwide for providing gender equality in education. 20.5% of Jordan's total government expenditures goes to education compared to 2.5% in Turkey and 3.86% in Syria.
In scientific research, Jordan is ranked number one in the Arab world. Nature Journal reported Jordan having the highest number of researchers per million people among all the 57 countries members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC); the average of OIC countries is 500 researchers per million people. In Jordan there are 2,000 researchers per million people. The top performers in the world were Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Japan with 5,000 researchers per million.. Jordan is ranked 30th worldwide higher than Israel and the United Kingdom.
Jordan ranked 14th out of 110 countries for the number of engineers and scientists according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2004–2005 (WEF). Jordan has a higher proportion of university graduates in technological fields than any other Arab country. There are over 200,000 Jordanian students enrolled in universities each year. An additional 20,000 Jordanians pursue higher education abroad primarily in the United States and Great Britain.
There is a primary school enrollment rate of 98.2% in Jordan. Secondary school enrollment has increased from 63% to 97% of high school aged students in Jordan and between 79% and 85% of high school students in Jordan move on to higher education, an extremely high rate for a middle income nation.
According to the Global Innovation Index 2011, Jordan is the 3rd most innovative economy in the Middle East, only behind Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Worldwide, Jordan ranked 41st beating India, South
