Finland has been ranked first in the World Economic Forum's global Human Capital Index for the second year in a row.

Focussing on education, skills and employment, 130 countries were analysed regarding the proficiency with which they are nurturing and utilising their human capital at five different stages of the life cycle.

A total of 46 indicators identified patterns of labour market exclusion and untapped human capital potential. The Index also offered insight into how a country’s talent base may resemble in the future.

According to the report “For the second year running, Finland is the best-performing country in the world when it comes to
building and leveraging its human capital potential, taking the top spot on the 0–14, 15–24 and 25–54 Age Group pillars, and scoring in the top 10 for the remaining age groups.
The country benefits from a well-educated young population with a near-universal basic education survival rate and the highest score for the quality of primary schools. Its 25–54 age group core working population shows the highest tertiary educational attainment rate in the Western Europe region and fourth best overall in the world.
Based on the World Economic Forum’s Executive Opinion Survey, Finland is also the country with the highest overall score on the Ease of finding skilled employees indicator, with even its 55-64 and 65 and over age groups possessing the world’s third highest attainment rate of tertiary education, highlighting the continuing long-term benefits of past human capital investments."

The global top five was rounded out by Norway, Switzerland, Japan and Sweden. Denmark was ranked on 7th place.

 The full report is available on The World Economic Forum's website: www3.weforum.org

Source and graphics: World Economic Forum's Human Capital Report 2016