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Japan not in the top 10 Human Capital Index ranking

By on October 3, 2013

The World Economic Forum, an annual c-level meeting that takes place in Switzerland,  has released the 2013 Human Capital Report with Japan not in the top ten.   The top 10 countries are dominated by the European countries enjoying eight out of the ten spots.   Switzerland gets the number one spot based on its strong scores on four pillars:  Education, Health and Wellness, Workforce and employment, and Enabling environment.   The Human Capital Index measures the skills and competencies of a country’s people and how well countries are investing on human capital in preparing for the demands of competitive economies.

Japan ranks 15th globally owing to its excellent scores in the Health and Survival sub-pillars.  While Japan’s training indicators on the Employment pillar are strong, the country’s  Education ranking as the 28th appears to be weak compared to other  advanced economies.  According to the report,  the rate of Japan’s enrollment in secondary education is higher than the primary.  The reasons attributed to its relative weak score in the index are gender gap in education and workforce, its ability to attract talent, and reported depression in the well-being sub pillar.

The Nordic region, (Finland, Norway and Sweden), occupying three of the top six ranks, are currently role models in the  Workforce and Employment pillar.  Singapore,  with an overall index score of 3, is the only Asian country in the top ten due to excellent scores on the Education, and Workforce and Employment pillars.   Although the United States scored high on Education, its Health and Wellness ranking at 43 is the second to the lowest among G8 countries with Russia at the bottom (62).    Here are G8 countries’ overall index ranking.

Germany        6

Britain            8

Canada         10

Japan            15

USA                16

France            21

Italy                 37

Russia             51

About Tim Furukawa