Why in news?
The “World Economic Forum’s - Global Human Capital Index”, ranked India at a 103rd among 130 countries.
What does the report say?
- The Global Human Capital Index 2017 ranks countries on how well they are developing their human capital.
- The rankings are based on four thematic dimensions — capacity, deployment, development, and know-how.
- The index is led by Scandinavian nations Norway, Finland and Switzerland, followed by large economies such as the US and Germany.
- In South Asia, the race is led by Sri Lanka at rank 70 and Nepal at 98, while India has a slightly better standing than Bangladesh & Pakistan.
- With the exception of Sri Lanka, the other South Asian countries are yet to reach the 60% threshold in HDI.
What are the implications for India?
- This is a scathing commentary on how India is handling its demographic dividend.
- India stands at the bottom among the G20 nations, is the lowest among BRICS nations.
- Dragged down by its poor labour participation and a big gender gap, India seems to be struggling against huge challenges.
- It has been noted that although India’s current educational attainment rate has improved over past generations, its youth literacy rate stands at a paltry 89%.
What are the positives for India?
- Despite the low ratings, the report notes that India is showing signs of slowly moving in the right direction.
- The primary way to realise the full human potential is by increasing inclusivity and expanding access to education and employment opportunities.
- On that note, the country scores well on the ‘know-how’ parameter that measures the use of specialised skills at work - such as economic complexity, availability of skilled employees.
- The other markers are that India ranks well on are its improving education system, skill diversity of graduates and high-skilled employment share.
What are the worldwide trends?
- The world average was only 62% on human capital development.
- Only 25 nations were found to have tapped at least 70% of their human capital, while for 14 countries was below 50%.
- South Asia’s overall score was behind the Middle East and North Africa but ahead of Sub-Saharan Africa.
- China was ranked an impressive 34th and its rapid expansion of educational attainment across its younger generations is poised to be an asset in preparing the future workforce.
Source: New Indian Express
