India’s score has improved from 0.44 to 0.49 in 2018, as per the report released by Human Capital Index World Bank on Wednesday. Previous year India had been ranked 115 out of 157 countries while this year it has moved to 116th out of 174 countries.
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What is Human Capital Index?
Human Capital Index is a report formulated by the World Bank, it is the measure of countries that are best in deploying the economic and skilled capacity of their citizens, it also measures the country’s loss in education and health. It includes the data of 174 countries that includes data of 98% of the world’s population.
World Bank’s take on it…
“The pandemic puts at risk the decade’s progress in building human capital, including the improvements in health, survival rates, school enrolment, and reduced stunting. The economic impact of the pandemic has been particularly deep for women and for the most disadvantaged families, leaving many vulnerable to food insecurity and poverty”
“We’re working with countries to try to protect people during the crisis and also invest in them so that we can see the recovery and lay a foundation for future inclusive growth”
stated David Malpass, President, World Bank Group
“An index is a conversation-opener, and what we have discussed with our client countries is that all that is in the index matters, but not everything that matters can be in the index,” mentioned Roberta Gatti, Chief Economist for human development at World Bank
She further added, “We have worked very directly with some of our client countries to use the index as a way to improve measurement, and India was exactly one of these cases,”
What were the impacts?
During the pandemic, more than 1 billion children have been out of school and half year’s learning has been adjusted leading to high losses. The same way the health of women and children have been affected in large numbers, vaccinations that are important for children were missed too.
The bank has been working thoroughly with the authorities of India to improve the lifestyle of the poor. A 12% drop in employment has been estimated and the severe impact of COVID-19 has been noted.
What is being done?
A two-fold crisis has been observed, the developing countries are being left behind with the poor suffering the most while the steps to improve are being taken. The countries have been observing poor health facilities that have led to the poor condition of the people for which the world bank has been working to restart the learning process by helping countries secure access to equipment, assisting in reopening, and with distance learning.
India also recently slipped 105th position on Global Economic Freedom Index.
