In terms of Human Capital Development, a World Bank Report has ranked Guyana at number 99 out of 157 other countries, with many of the benchmarks used considered basic Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Human Capital Index is the first of its series from the World Bank. Ranging from 0 and 1, the index is measured in terms of the how well equipped the next generation would be to develop their nation when the benchmarks of complete education and full health are considered.
In Guyana’s case, the index gave Guyana a value of 0.49. The highest ranked country in South America is Chile, which placed at number 45, with a value of 0.67. When it comes to the Caribbean, the highest ranked country is Trinidad and
Irfaan Ali
Tobago, which has been ranked at number 62, with a value of 0.61. Jamaica is next ranked.
“An economy in which a child born today can expect to achieve complete education and full health will score a value of 1 on the index,” the report explains. “Lower and upper bounds indicate the range of uncertainty around the value of the HCI for each economy.
No country scored such an overall value. According to the report, the closest to this pedestal was Singapore, with a value of 0.88. Countries were measured under three components: survival of children beyond the age of five; education, which speaks to the quantity and quality available; and the healthcare available to children.
Explaining the methodology used, the report related that it followed information on the average child’s journey from birth to adulthood. It noted that in the poorest countries in the world, there is a significant risk that children will not survive to their fifth birthday.
“Even if she does reach school age, there is a further risk that she does not start school, let alone complete the full cycle of 14 years of school from preschool to grade 12 that is the norm in rich countries.”
“The time she does spend in school may translate unevenly into learning, depending on the quality of the teachers and schools she experiences. When she reaches age 18, she carries with her the lasting effects of poor health and nutrition in childhood that limits her physical and cognitive abilities as an adult.”
In Guyana, the report rates the probability of a child surviving to the age of five at 0.97. It states that the expected years someone will spend in school is 12.1, with the learning adjusted years of school being 6.7. The adult survival rate has been put at 0.79.
It was in August that Opposition parliamentarian Irfaan Ali had expressed concern over Guyana’s slide in the last three years on three other major international indices that measure the personal development of a country’s citizens.
According to Ali, the statistics tell a story of a country that has been losing its international rankings when it comes to things like unemployment rates, education, and youth literacy.
“Various international organisations, such as World Economic Forum, through a series of annual countries’ assessment, inadvertently espouse the axiom that ‘Guyana is in reverse mode’,” Ali had pointed out.
“In 2017, the Global Human Capital Index, a report that ranks countries according to their effectiveness and level of human capital development, demoted Guyana below its 2015 global position of 79 by nine positions, surpassing frail economies.”
He had also quoted from the 2016 Human Development Report published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), noting that Guyana has also deteriorated globally by several places on the Human Development Index. Ali had pointed out that countries like Namibia have surpassed Guyana in the global rankings.
the learning adjusted years of school being 6.7. The adult survival rate has been put at 0.79.
