Singapore fared well in the Human Capital Index, published by the World Economic Forum, coming in third.

A nation’s human capital endowment—the skills and capacities that reside in people and that are put to productive use—can be a more important determinant of its long term economic success than virtually any other resource. This resource must be invested in and leveraged efficiently in order for it to generate returns, for the individuals involved as well as an economy as a whole.

The Human Capital Index explores the contributors and inhibitors to the development and deployment of a healthy, educated and productive labour force.

The four pillars of the Index are:

• The Health and Wellness pillar contains indicators relating to a population’s physical and mental well– being, from childhood to adulthood. It looks at things such as survival rates, health conditions, stress, depression and availability of healthcare.
• The Education pillar contains indicators relating to quantitative and qualitative aspects of education across primary, secondary and tertiary levels and contains information on both the present workforce as well as the future workforce. It measures the access, quality and attainment levels of education.
• The Workforce and Employment pillar is designed to quantify the experience, talent, knowledge and training in a country’s working–age population.
• The Enabling Environment pillar captures the legal framework, infrastructure and other factors that enable returns on human capital.

The top ten nations in the index are dominated by the European countries, with eight of the top ten spots occupied by countries from this region. Singapore (#3) is the only Asian country in the top ten due to very strong scores on the Education pillar, Workforce and Employment pillar and a strong fifth position on the Enabling Environment pillar. Exceptionally strong scores across the qualitative education indicators and the high level of tertiary education among the adult population drive up Singapore’s Education pillar ranking. Strengths on the Enabling Environment’s Collaboration and Legal framework sub–pillars include a top rank on the Doing Business Index. The Health and Wellness pillar is weakened mainly due to the burden of disease in the country.