W Bank ranking proves Bahrain’s progress: EDB

Bahrain’s top ranking on the World Bank’s Human Capital Index in the GCC region is a testament to the Kingdom’s economic and social sustainability, said a top EDB official. “It is particularly pleasing to see our efforts reflected in this index,” said Khalid Al Rumaihi, Chief Executive of the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB). In a global measure of how well a country is developing its next generation of workers, Bahrain’s performance was most notably in education, where it ranked first in the GCC.

The country was also in the top quartile globally for the number of years a child spends at school, averaging 13.3 years per child. Bahrain, Al Rumaihi said, recognises that improving the skills, health and knowledge of the country’s population is crucial to the future development of our Kingdom. Launched in Bali at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and The World Bank Group, focusing on health and education, the Index measures how productive a child born today will be by the time they turn 18.

Compared to its regional peers, Bahrain’s Human Capital Index is marginally higher for girls than it is for boys, specifically because of higher education attainment, while health outcomes for girls and boys are virtually identical. “In the past few years, Bahrain witnessed major developments in the health and education sectors, where today the UNDP’s Human Development Index ranks Bahrain in the very high human development category, with our ranking improving 13.4pc between 1990 and 2017,” added Al Rumaihi.