In the latest edition of the World Bank’s annual Human Capital Index, India has been ranked at 116th position. The index benchmarks the key components of human capital across countries. However, India’s score increased to 0.49 from 0.44 in 2018, as per the Human Capital Index report released by the World Bank recently. The 2020 Human Capital Index update includes health and education data for 174 countries covering 98% of the world’s population up to March 2020, providing a pre-pandemic baseline on the health and education of children, with the biggest strides made in low-income countries.
The analysis shows that pre-pandemic, most countries had made steady progress in building the human capital of children, with the biggest strides made in low-income countries. Despite this progress, and even before the effects of the pandemic, a child born in a typical country could expect to achieve just 56% of their potential human capital.
David Malpas, Group President of the World Bank, said, “The epidemic has put the decade’s progress in building human capital at risk, including health, life expectancy, school enrolment and malnutrition.” The economic outbreak of the epidemic has been particularly high for women and the most disadvantaged families, causing many families to suffer from food insecurity and poverty. “
Due to the pandemic’s impact, more than 1 billion children have been out of school. They could lose out half a year of schooling, adjusted for learning, translating into the monetary loss. Data has also shown significant disruptions to essential health services for children and women, where many children have been missing out on crucial vaccinations.
According to the report, it is important to protect the people and invest in them because the countries are laying the foundation for sustainable and inclusive development. Last year, India raised serious questions about the Human Capital Index, in which India was ranked 115 out of 157 countries. Mamta Murthy, vice president of human development at the World Bank Group, said that the Human Capital Index gives a basis through which the Indian government can prioritize and support human capital.
