Human Capital Index: India ranks at 100, lower than all BRICS peers, Finland on top

GENEVA: India has been ranked at a lowly 100 position on the global Human Capital Index, which measures countries on development and deployment of human capital.

Finland has topped the 124-nation list. India is ranked lower than all its BRICS peers -- Russia, China, Brazil and South Africa -- and smaller neighbours like Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Bangladesh. But Pakistan follows at 113.

In the top 10 of the list, compiled by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Finland is followed by Norway, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Belgium.

WEF said the list has been compiled on the basis of 46 indicators about "how well countries are developing and deploying their human capital, focusing on education, skills and employment".

"It aims to understand whether countries are wasting or leveraging their human potential," it added.

On India, the report said that although the educational attainment has improved markedly over different age groups, its youth literacy rate is still only 90 per cent, well behind the rates of other emerging economies.

"India also ranks poorly on labour force participation rate due to its large informal sector," WEF added.

The major countries ranked above India include France (14th rank), the US (17), the UK (19) and Germany (22).

Among BRICS nations, Russia comes on the top at 26th position, followed by China (64), Brazil (78) and South Africa (92).

The countries with a better score than India also include Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyz Republic, Chile, the Philippines, Serbia, Mongolia, the UAE, Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Mauritius, Barbados, Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, Cambodia and Tunisia.

WEF said 14 countries have reached 80 per cent human capital optimisation while 38 score 70-80 per cent.

An additional 40 countries are somewhere between 60 per cent and 70 per cent while 23 countries score 50-60 per cent and nine remain below the 50 per cent mark.

In Asia and the Pacific, where the majority of the world's population is concentrated, the spread between the highest and lowest performing countries is among the widest.

After Japan, the best-performing countries are New Zealand (9), Australia (13) and Singapore (24) while Nepal (106), Myanmar (112) and Pakistan (113) occupy the lowest positions.

After China and India, the region's third most populous country, Indonesia, takes the 69th slot. Iran is ranked 80th.