Maldives Human Capital Review: Unleashing People’s Full Potential

This report is undertaken as a part of the Human Capital Project (HCP), a globalinitiative of the World Bank Group that aims to increase governments’ awarenessof the importance of investing in people (World Bank n.d.b). One of the maincomponents of the HCP is a cross-country metric—the Human Capital Index (HCI). TheHCI estimates the amount of human capital a child born today can expect to accumulate by the age of 18, thus highlighting how current health and education outcomes shape the work productivity of the next generation. Moreover, given the cumulative nature of human capital, the HCI has clear milestones across the entire human life cycle: at birth, children need to survive; during childhood, they need to be well-nourished; at school age, they must complete all schooling and active adequate learning levels; and in adulthood, they need to stay in good health. Finally, the HCI includes a result: a score that ranges from 0 to 1. A country where an average child has virtually no risk of being stunted or dying before age five, receives high-quality education, and becomes a healthy adult, would have an HCI close to 1. Conversely, when the risk of being ill-nourished or prematurely dying is high, access to education is limited, and the quality of learning is low, the HCI would approach zero.