UNESCO's latest Global Monitoring Report has estimated that literacy rate in developing countries has increased from 68 percent to 77 percent between 1985 and 2004. This has brought the overall global average literacy rate to about 82 percent. Pakistan, however, is placed at the lowest rung of the international literacy ladder. The reason for Pakistan's dismal rating on yet another development indicator is due to the simple fact that the literacy ratio in Pakistan still hovers around 50 percent.