ISLAMABAD: Each Pakistani has just 5.7 years of peak productivity, a new study published in the international health journal Lancet has found.

The study said that Pakistanis also spend 8.6 years in school out of a possible 18, compared to 8.2 years in Bangladesh and 10.4 in India.

The study was conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHMA) at the request of the president of the World Bank. It is the first of its kind to measure and compare the strength of countries’ ‘human capital’.

Study requested by World Bank president measured strength of countries’ ‘human capital’

The study said that a country’s economy grows when its human capital score increases. It claimed that Pakistan is falling behind in terms of the health and learning of its workforce, which could have negative long-term effects on its economy.

The study, released on Tuesday, said that Pakistan’s ranking of 164th out of 195 in 2016 represents an increase from its 1990 ranking of 165th. Pakistanis have 5.7 years of expected human capital, which is measured as the number of years a person will work in the years of peak productivity taking into account life expectancy, functional health, years of schooling and learning.

Pakistan is placed just behind Rwanda and ahead of Tanzania. India is ranked 158th and the United States, 27th.

Pakistanis do not live as long in the workforce as most people in the world. The study looks at how many years between the ages of 20 and 65 – when people are most active in the workforce – they can expect to live. On average, Pakistanis live 39 out of these 45 years, which places Pakistan at 140 out of 195 countries; Bangladesh comes in at 118 and India at 136.

Pakistan is also ranked 171st in the world in terms of educational attainment, moving up five spots since 1990. India showed greater progress, from 150th in 1990 to 131st in 2016.

In terms of education quality, the study ranked Pakistan 135th – lower than Nepal (127th), Bhutan (120th) and Myanmar (106th) but higher than India (150th). Learning was based on average student scores on internationally comparable tests.

The study found that Pakistanis in the workforce struggle with illness and disability. In functional health – which calculates the work impact of ailments such as stunting, hearing, vision loss and infectious diseases such as malaria or tuberculosis – Pakistan ranked 177th in the world, while India was ranked 187th.

University of Health Services Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Akram attributed the shorter period of peak productivity to mental and physical health issues, genetics and a lack of nutrition.

“People have psychological issues; on average each Pakistani is on leave for a week in a year due to back pain and genetically we are more vulnerable to diseases. In industries, safety measures are hardly taken due to which people have lung diseases. 20 million people have hepatitis,” he said.

Dr Asad Hafeez, the director general of the Ministry of National Health Services, said life expectancy in Pakistan is over 65 for women and men, but in Scandinavian countries life expectancy is over 80 years.

“We have less productive life because of less average life. Moreover, we have double burden of diseases, which means we have diseases of rich countries such as heart attacks, obesity, diabetes and hypertension and also diseases of poor countries i.e. tuberculosis and hepatitis.

“We also have 40pc stunted children due to which their productivity is affected. We have to invest in the physical health of children. Moreover, there is the issue of awareness. Even if we invest today we will get results after five years,” he said.

In the study, Finland has the highest human capital score in the world, while Turkey has shown the most dramatic increase in human capital between 1990 and 2016. Asian countries with notable improvement include China, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam, while in Latin America Brazil stands out in terms of improvement.

All these countries have had faster economic growth over this period than peer countries with lower levels of human capital improvement.

The greatest increase among Sub-Saharan African countries was in Equatorial Guinea, while some of the world’s most rapid improvements were in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

According to the study, Finland’s level of expected human capital in 2016 was 28 years, followed immediately by Iceland, Denmark and the Netherlands with 27 years and Taiwan with 26. Niger, South Sudan and Chad ranked lowest in 2016 with two years.

A total of 44 countries surpassed more than 20 years of expected human capital while 68 had fewer than 10 years.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2018