Pakistan Among the Lowest Ranked Countries in Human Capital Index: World Bank

Pakistan ranks 134 of 157 countries in the Human Capital Index of the World Bank, below other South Asian nations including Afghanistan.

The World Bank Group unveiled a new system to rank countries based on their success in developing human capital, an effort to prod governments to invest more effectively in education and healthcare.

The Human Capital Index measures the amount of human capital that a child born today can expect to attain by age 18, given the risks of poor health and education that prevail in the country where he or she lives.

The rankings, based on health, education and survivability measures, assess the future productivity and earnings potential for citizens of 157 of the World Bank’s member nations, and ultimately those countries’ potential economic growth.

According to the Human Capital Index, a child born in Pakistan today will be 39 percent as productive when she grows up as she could be if she enjoyed complete education and full health.

According to the report, a Pakistani child was expected to complete just 8.8 years of education if enrolled in school at age 4. These average school years are much below the global average of 11.2 years of education that children could expect to attain. Even in South Asia, an average child could expect to attain 10.5 years of education.

An average Indian child could be expected to complete 10.2 years of schooling. India also had a better score than Pakistan of 5.8 for adjusted school years.

The HCI reflects the productivity as a future worker of a child born today, compared with what it could be if he or she had full health and complete, high-quality education, on a scale from zero to one, with 1 as the best possible score.

In 2017, Pakistan’s HCI is lower than the average for its region and income group.

The Adult Survival Rate across Pakistan, 84 percent of 15-year olds will survive until age 60. This statistic is a proxy for the range of fatal and non-fatal health outcomes that a child born today would experience as an adult under current conditions.

Globally, 56 percent of all children born today will grow up to be, at best, half as productive as they could be; and 92 percent will grow up to be, at best, 75 percent as productive as they could be.

The new research gives policymakers compelling evidence that delivering better outcomes in children’s health and learning can significantly boost the incomes of people—and of countries—with returns far into the future.

Singapore topped the list, followed by South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong, while African countries fared the worst in the rankings, with Chad and South Sudan taking the two lowest spots.