India stands just behind Sudan and ahead of Namibia when it comes to its investments in education and healthcare mapped as a measurement of its commitment to economic growth in 2016, according to a study on human capital published in The Lancet, a global journal.
The study has noted that India is falling behind in terms of the health and education of its workforce, which could potentially have long-term negative impact on its economy. In contrast, Nepal, a country with significantly lower per capita income than India made the biggest improvement—increasing its functional health score by 28% over a 16-year period—followed by Bangladesh (22%), Sri Lanka (21%) and then India (18%). Pakistan and Bangladesh lagged behind though they fared better healthwise.
Human capital is defined as “the educational attainment, learning, and health status of the workforce that contribute to economic productivity.”
However, that India slightly improved human capital ranking from 162 in 1990 to 158 out of 195 countries in 2016 came as a big solace. The longitudinal study that spanned from 1990 to 2016 was conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent global health research centre at the University of Washington.
Finland topped the list, as per the study “Measuring human capital: A systematic analysis of 195 countries and territories, 1990 to 2016.”
Other interesting details from the study included the ranking of United States at 27, down from its earlier ranking at 6 in similar comparative studies in 1990, because of minimal progress, particularly in educational attainment, which declined from 13 years to 12.
Explaining India’s ranking of 158th in 2016, an improvement from its 1990 ranking of 162, an IHME note said that it came from 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”, the note said.
The study looked at four main drivers of human capital: educational attainment levels, learning outcomes measured by test scores, health outcomes across seven key areas - including rates of anaemia, hearing loss and infectious diseases - and mortality rates.
The IHME scored countries on several components of human capital: the number of years workers spend in school, the quality of their learning, and their health status. These components directly correlate to how much a government prioritises and invests in the education and health of its people.
“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 IHME at the University of Washington.
Last year, World Bank President Dr. Jim Yong Kim asked IHME to develop a measurement to rank human capital as it could help Governments and investors get an insight into the areas where investments were needed to improve health and education. He defined human capital as “the sum total of a population’s health, skills, knowledge, experience, and habits.” In other words, a recognition that all labour is not equal, and the quality of workers can be improved by investing in them.
Rankings for the 10most populous countries in 2016, in addition to China,India, and the United States were Indonesia (131st), Brazil (71st), Pakistan (164th), Nigeria (171st), Bangladesh (161st), Russia (49th), and Mexico (104th).
Researchers found that nations with greater improvements in human capital also tend to have faster growth in per capita GDP. Countries in the highest quartile of improvements in human capital between 1990 and 2016 had a 1.1% higher median yearly GDP growth rate than countries in the bottom quartile of human capital improvements.
There were notable differences in expected human capital by sex in 2016. Across the board, expected years lived between 20 and 64 years are greater in females than in males. In addition, health status tends to be higher among females than males, with the exception of high-income countries.