Human Capital Index Rankings 2013 for Asia and Pacific Countries and Evaluation of Human Capital Indicators for Pakistan

This paper presents Human Capital Index Rankings for 20 Asia and Pacific Countries. The Human Capital Index (HCI) developed by the (World Economic Forum) assesses 122 countries, representing over 90% of the world’s population. The Human Capital Index (HCI) measures the countries on their ability to develop and deploy healthy, educated and able workers through 4 pillars: education, health & wellness, workforce & employment and enabling environment. The Index consists of 51 indicators in total, spread across the 4 pillars. The Education pillar contains 12 indicators relating to quantitative and qualitative aspects of education across primary, secondary and tertiary levels and contains information on both the present workforce as well as the future workforce. The Health and Wellness pillar contains 14 indicators relating to a population’s physical and mental well–being, from childhood to adulthood. The Workforce and Employment pillar having 16 indicators is designed to quantify the experience, talent, knowledge and training in a country’s working–age population. The Enabling Environment pillar with 9 indicators captures the legal framework, infrastructure and other factors that enable returns on human capital. Singapore was ranked 3rd in the Human Capital index Ranking 2013 and was the only Asian country in the top 10. Japan (15) ranked the next highest after Singapore. These countries are followed by Malaysia (22), Korea (23), China (43) and India (78). Pakistan ranked 112th out of 122 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Human Capital Index. Pakistan ranked 111th in the education pillar, with regard to health and well-being pillar, the country’s ranking was 115th. For workforce and employment pillar, Pakistan’s ranking was 104th, and for enabling environment, it ranked 95th.