Sri Lanka ranked 60th among 124 countries according to a survey conducted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as those nations conducive to developing its human capital, particularly in the fields of education, skills development and deployment.

India was ranked at a low 100th position on the index, while Finland has topped the 124-nation list. 

On the list, compiled by WEF, other emerging economies such as Russia, China, Brazil and South Africa are ranked ahead of India. In the top-ten, Finland is followed by Norway, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, New Zealand and Belgium. 

WEF said the list has been compiled on the basis of 46 indicators about ‘how well they are developing and deploying their human capital, focusing on education, skills and employment’. 

‘It aims to understand whether countries are wasting or leveraging their human potential’, it added. The major countries ranked above India include France (14th rank), the US (17th), the UK (19th) and Germany (22nd). 

Among BRICS nations, Russia comes on the top at 26th position, followed by China at 64th, Brazil at 78th place and South Africa at 92nd. The countries with better score than India also include Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyz Republic, Chile, Philippines, Serbia, Mongolia, UAE, Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Mauritius, Barbados, Brazil, Guatemala, Bhutan, Honduras, Cambodia, Tunisia and Bangladesh. 

WEF said that 14 countries have reached 80 per cent human capital optimisation, while 38 countries score between 70 per cent and 80 per cent. A further 40 countries score between 60 per cent and 70 per cent, while 23 countries score 50-60 per cent and nine countries remain below 50 per cent.