Underinvesting in health, education is now risking India's economic future

Poor quality education and the relatively high prevalence of certain diseases amongst the population means India is risking its future economic growth by underinvesting in two key areas important for workforce productivity, according to a new study.

Indians work for just six-and-a-half years at peak productivity (compared to 20 years in China, 16 in Brazil and 13 in Sri Lanka), ranking 158th out of 195 countries in an international ranking of human capital in the study by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, published in The Lancet, a global journal.

Human capital is a measure of the education and health levels in a population, expressed as the number of expected years lived between the age of 20 and 64. It is considered an important determinant of economic growth.

By taking into account life expectancy, functional health, years of schooling and education quality, the quality of labour generated within a country can be estimated, compared with other nations and areas for increased investment focus identified.