India ranks 116 in World Bank’s annual Human Capital Index

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, as per the released Human Capital index Report, India’s score has increased to 0.49 from 0.44 in 2018. The 2020 Human Capital Index Update has included education and health data for 174 countries- up to March 2020.

What analysis does Index show for the pre-pandemic period?

The analysis done by the World Bank has shown that pre-pandemic, most of the countries had made steady progress in building the human capital of children, with the biggest strides made in low-income countries.

However, according to the World Bank, despite the progress and even before the effects of the pandemic, a child born in a typical country can expect to achieve just 56% of their potential human capital, relative to a benchmark of full health and complete education.

How the pandemic has impacted Human Capital?

As per World Bank Group President, David Malpass, the pandemic has put at risk the decades progress in building Human Capital, including survival rates, improvements in health, and school enrollment.

The economic impact of the pandemic has been particularly deep for most of the disadvantaged families and women, leaving many vulnerable to poverty and food insecurity.

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.

The pandemic has also deepened inequality globally, in addition to increased distress and poverty. Its impact on developing countries has particularly been hard as there is a collapse of the formal and informal market. The World Bank has estimated a 12 percent drop in employment.

India’s position in the Human Capital Index:

In 2019, India had raised serious reservations over the Human Capital Index, wherein it was ranked 115 out of 157 countries. In 2020, India finds itself at 116th among 174 countries.

World Bank’s Chief Economist for Human Development, Roberta Gatti commented on the objections and mentioned that their team has worked with countries to improve the quality of data for making it a better index for everyone.

Gatti further commented that the team has worked directly with some of the client countries to use the index as a way to improve measurement and India was exactly one of these cases.

As per the bank, the Human Capital Index provides a basis on which the Indian Government can prioritize and a dimension to support the human capital.

Given the progress that is been made in recent times, it seems significant for now due to COVID-19. The Bank has already been working with Indian authorities on supporting the livelihoods for the poor, which is very important.