The Human Capital Report 2015

A nation’s human capital endowment – the skills and capacities that reside in people and that are put to productive use – can be a more important determinant of long term economic success than virtually any other resource.

The Human Capital Report details the findings of a new Index which measures countries on their ability to develop and deploy healthy, educated and able workers through four distinct pillars: Education, Health & Wellness, Workforce & Employment and Enabling Environment.

Human Capital Index 2015

The Human Capital Index measures countries’ ability to maximize and leverage their human capital endowment. The index assesses Learning and Employment outcomes across 5 distinct age groups, on a scale from 0 (worst) to 100 (best), and assesses 124 economies.

According to the report, the key factor linking innovation, competitiveness and growth in the next area is talent, not capital, and requires that each executive better understand the global talent value chain. Smart data and metrics are essential to deepening this understanding. The Report provides comprehensive information on the talent base in each country, including: education levels of the employed and unemployed, the inactive members of the population as well information on the latest entrants to the workforce.

In the top 10 of the list, compiled by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Finland is followed by Norway, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Belgium.

WEF said the list has been compiled on the basis of 46 indicators about “how well countries are developing and deploying their human capital, focusing on education, skills and employment”.

“It aims to understand whether countries are wasting or leveraging their human potential,” it added.

WEF said 14 countries have reached 80 per cent human capital optimization while 38 score 70-80 per cent. An additional 40 countries are somewhere between 60 per cent and 70 per cent while 23 countries score 50-60 per cent and nine remain below the 50 per cent mark.

In Asia and the Pacific, where the majority of the world’s population is concentrated, the spread between the highest and lowest performing countries is among the widest.

India has been ranked at a lowly 100 position on the global Human Capital Index, which measures countries on development and deployment of human capital. Finland has topped the 124-nation list.

India is ranked lower than all its BRICS peers, Russia, China, Brazil and South Africa and smaller neighbours like Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Bangladesh. But Pakistan follows at 113.
Among BRICS nations, Russia comes on the top at 26th position, followed by China (64), Brazil (78) and South Africa (92)

After China and India, the region’s third most populous country, Indonesia, takes the 69th slot. Iran is ranked 80th.

The major countries ranked above India include France (14th rank), the US (17), the UK (19) and Germany (22).

The countries with a better score than India also include Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyz Republic, Chile, the Philippines, Serbia, Mongolia, the UAE, Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Mauritius, Barbados, Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, Cambodia and Tunisia.

CANADA ranked #4 in the list of 100.