Syria

Bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest, the Syrian Arab Republic ranks 108 out of 179 countries, according the United Nations Development Programmes's Human Development Index. The Index's Gender-related Development Index (GDI) ranks Syria as 95. The GDI ranking translates into a life expectancy of 75.5 years for Syrian women and a female adult literacy rate of 73.6 percent, with the female youth literacy rate increasing to 90.2 percent. At the educational level, the primary enrollment ratio for females to males is 121 percent, and the secondary enrollment ratio is 65 percent.