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NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) – The World Bank Group unveiled Thursday a new system to rank countries based on their success in developing human capital, with the aim of encouraging governments to invest more effectively in education and health care.
Students leave after a break at a secondary school in Singapore on October 27, 2016. REUTERS / Edgar Su
The bank's human capital index shows that the poorest countries in Africa have the worst rankings, with Chad and South Sudan in the two lowest places, while Singapore tops the list, followed by Korea South, Japan and Hong Kong.
The ranking, based on measures of health, education and survivability, assesses the future productivity and income potential of the citizens of 157 World Bank member countries and, ultimately, the potential for economic growth of these countries. country.
The index was unveiled at annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on the Indonesian island of Bali.
It has been found that on average 56% of children born today would give up more than half of their potential earnings over the course of their lives because governments were not investing enough to ensure that their employees be in good health, educated and ready to work in a workplace.
World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said he hoped the new index would encourage governments to take steps to move up the rankings, just as they want with the popular poll "Doing "Business" of the bank, which ranks countries according to their ease in doing business. , with low tax and low-regulation economies that are better off.
Kim acknowledged that the ranking would be controversial, but told reporters that the need to invest more and better and better in the population was "such that we could not hesitate to put the wrong leaders in the # 39; ease ".
"It's about bringing their attention to a crisis that we think is real. This is related to productivity, economic growth, "Kim said.
He said the World Bank member countries and the World Bank's board of directors had unanimously agreed.
The index measures the under-five mortality rate, the stunting rate in young children due to malnutrition and other factors, and the health outcomes as a function of the proportion of 15 year olds who survive until the age of 60. years of schooling that a child can expect to get before age 18, associated with the relative performance of a country in passing tests of international students.
African countries with high rates of stunting in childhood and low access to formal education have been worse off, while richer countries with strong education systems have been better off. results.
In Chad, the least ranked country on the list, the World Bank said that productivity and income potential would be only about 29% of what their potential would be under ideal conditions.
In Singapore, at the forefront, potential earnings represented 88% of potential, while in the United States, where Israel and Macao ranked 24th, productivity and profits were measured at 76% of potential. .
Kim said that 28 countries, from Indonesia to Lesotho via Ukraine, agreed as early adopters of the index to collaborate with the World Bank to develop plans. to improve their investments in health and education.
The bank warned that a wave of automation and artificial intelligence would eliminate many low-skilled jobs in the coming years, making it harder to find workers for poorly educated and unhealthy people .
The index showed that a country ranked at the 50% level, like Morocco and El Salvador, would lose 1.4 percentage points of annual GDP growth from its potential under ideal conditions. health and education.
Report by David Lawder; edited by Eric Meijer
