Better healthcare and education can increase country’s income, World Bank study shows
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- The World Bank Group has highlighted in the study that a significant improvement in children’s health and education today can surely raise the country’s and population’s income, with considerable long-term benefits.
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TIRANA, Oct. 14 - The 2018 Human Capital Index (HCI) launched by the World Bank showed for Albania that the country is doing better than what would be expected for its income, yet children born today could be 62 percent more productive than they are if they enjoyed complete education and full health.
According to this research, Albania has improved the coverage and quality of early childhood education and care.
“The access to pre-primary education has substantially increased from 58 percent in 2007 to 83 percent in 2017. Over the long term, early learning opportunities are linked with higher education attainment, post-school productivity, and income, and have a higher rate of return for vulnerable groups,” the study says.
However, the HCI also showed there is place for improvement in the quality of pre-primary education and inclusion especially for disadvantaged children - something already recognized as a priority by the Albanian government.
The HCI measures the amount of human capital that a child born today can expect to attain by the age of 18. The index ranks where each country is now in terms of productivity of the next generation of workers.
“For the poorest people, human capital is often the only capital they have,” World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim is quoted to have said in in the World Bank webpage. “Human capital is a key driver of sustainable, inclusive economic growth, but investing in health and education has not gotten the attention it deserves.”
Although, according to the World Bank, 99 out of 100 children born in Albania survive to the age of five, however infant and maternal mortality and stunted rates are still higher than in other countries of the region and improvements are still possible.
Further on, the HCI for Albania shows the country has reached full gender equality in pre-primary and elementary education, as gross enrollment data haven been almost identical for boys and girls.
“However, more males than females attend upper secondary while more females are in higher education pointing to needs to address disparities at these levels of education going forward.”
The Index is part of the World Bank Group’s Human Capital Project, which recognizes human capital as driver of inclusive growth and will be included in the forthcoming World Development Report 2019 on the Changing Nature of Work, which addresses the importance of investing in human capital.
The World Bank Group has highlighted in the study that a significant improvement in children’s health and education today can surely raise the country’s and population’s income, with considerable long-term benefits.