Mumbai: India is the fastest growing economy among G20 nations, but has failed to optimize its talent potential through education, skills development and deployment during people’s lifetimes, finds The Human Capital Report 2016 prepared by the World Economic Forum. The Human Capital Report 2016 found that India is placed at 105th position among 130 countries in Human Capital index with a score of 57.7 compared to global average of 65%.
The report revealed that although India’s education attainment has improved markedly over different age groups, its youth literacy rate is till 90% (103 globally), far behind the rates of other emerging markets. Further, India’s performance in labour force participation is very poor as it was ranked at 121 on this parameter. On the positive side, India performed better on quality of education (39), staff training (46), and ease of finding skills employees (45).
Finland, Norway and Switzerland were on the top of the table, utilizing around 85% of their human capital. Japan leads when it comes to 55 year-olds and over. The Index covers six countries from the South Asia region: Sri Lanka (50), Bhutan (91), Bangladesh (104), India (105), Nepal (108) and Pakistan (118). In a poor show by the South Asia region, the overall average score for the region is 59.92, behind the Middle East and North Africa and ahead of Sub-Saharan Africa.
The World Economic Forum’s Human Capital Report ranks 130 countries on how well they are developing and deploying their talent. The index takes a life-course approach to human capital, evaluating the levels of education, skills and employment available to people in five distinct age groups, starting from under 15 years to over 65 years.
India’s economic growth is the highest among G20 nations, but its rank is the lowest in the Human Capital Index. The difference between top county (Japan) and lowest country (India) is 26 score among G-20 nations. The report mentioned that India has to expand its access system for learning and employment opportunities.
