World Bank report: Georgia needs more investment in human capital to assure well-being of future generations

The human capital index score of Georgia for 2020 is higher than the average for upper middle-income countries worldwide and above its 2010 value of 0.54, but it is lower than the average for the Europe and Central Asia region. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.

Agenda.ge, 17 Sep 2020 - 12:41, Tbilisi,Georgia

The overall human capital index score of Georgia is 0.57, which means that a child born in Georgia is expected to grow up to be only 57 percent as productive as they could be if they enjoyed a complete education and full health, says the latest update of the World Bank’s Human Capital Index (HCI), which measures pre-pandemic human capital outcomes around the world.

The human capital index score of Georgia for 2020 is higher than the average for upper middle-income countries worldwide and above its 2010 value of 0.54, but it is lower than the average for the Europe and Central Asia region. Increasing the quality of education reflected in international test scores will help Georgia to catch up with the regional average, says the World Bank.

As an early adopter of the Human Capital Project, Georgia is committed to improving the well-being of its future generations... Fortunately, we have an existing project to improve educational outcomes in Georgia, and we are currently engaging with the government to improve long-term health and social protection outcomes as well, providing a strong foundation to deliver tangible improvements over the coming years", said World Bank Regional Director for the South Caucasus Sebastian Molineus. 

In Georgia, the World Bank supports two projects that are critical for human capital development: 

  1. The Innovation, Inclusion and Quality project - aimed at increasing access to preschool education, higher quality education, and improved learning environments
  2. The Log-in Georgia project, which sets out to bring fast and affordable broadband internet connection to nearly 500,000 people living in rural and hard-to-reach areas, making available such services as e-learning and telemedicine, both of which have proven to be invaluable during the COVID-19 pandemic

This year’s report includes a decade-long analysis of human capital development from 2010 to 2020 in 103 countries. Albania, Azerbaijan, and Russia are among the top 10 global improvers in progress made on health and education.