Measuring countries by their human capital will provide governments insights into where critical investments are needed to improve health and education
India ranks 158th in the world for its investments in education and health care as measurements of its commitment to economic growth, according to the first-ever scientific study ranking countries for their levels of human capital.
The nation placed just behind Sudan (ranked 157th) and just ahead of Namibia (ranked 159th). The United States ranked 27th, while China placed 44th and Pakistan 164th.
“Our findings show the association between investments in education and health and improved human capital and GDP – which policymakers ignore at their own peril,” said Dr Christopher Murray, Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.
“As the world economy grows increasingly dependent on digital technology, from agriculture to manufacturing to the service industry, human capital grows increasingly important for stimulating local and national economies,” he added.
The World Bank President, Dr Jim Yong Kim, defines human capital as ‘the sum total of a population’s health, skills, knowledge, experience, and habits’. It is a concept that recognises that not all labour is equal, and the quality of workers can be improved by investing in them.
India’s ranking of 158th in 2016 represents an improvement from its 1990 ranking of 162nd. It comes from having seven years of expected human capital, measured as the number of years a person can be expected to work in the years of peak productivity, taking into account life expectancy, functional health, years of schooling, and learning.
Overall, India’s residents had 39 out of a possible 45 years of life between the ages of 20 and 64; expected educational attainment of 10 years out of a possible of 18 years in school; and a learning score of 66 and a functional health score of 43, both out of 100. Learning is based on average student scores on internationally comparable tests. Components measured in the functional health score include stunting, wasting, anemia, cognitive impairments, hearing and vision loss, and infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.
Kim has stated that measuring and ranking countries by their human capital will enable comparisons over time, thereby providing governments and investors insights into where critical investments are needed to improve health and education. Last year, he asked IHME to develop such a measurement.
“Measuring and ranking countries by their level of human capital is critical to focus governments’ attention on investing in their own people. This study from IHME is an important contribution to the measurement of human capital across countries and over time, “ added Kim. The study, ‘Measuring human capital: A systematic analysis of 195 countries and territories, 1990 to 2016’, was published in the international medical journal The Lancet. It is based on a systematic analysis of an extensive array of data from numerous sources, including government agencies, schools, and health care systems.
The study places Finland at the top. Turkey showed the most dramatic increase in human capital between 1990 and 2016; Asian countries with notable improvement include China, Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam. Within Latin America, Brazil stands out for improvement. All these countries have had faster economic growth over this period than peer countries with lower levels of human capital improvement.
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