Publication: Iraq Human Capital Review: A Roadmap to Human Capital Recovery in Iraq
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2024-10-01
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2024-10-01
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According to the 2021 World Bank’s Human Capital Index (HCI), a child born in Iraq just before the COVID19- pandemic can expect to reach only 41 percent of his or her potential future productivity. Despite being an early investor in health and education, Iraq currently lags behind its regional peers in a number of important human capital outcomes (the average HCI for the Middle East and North Africa region is 57 percent). The country’s recent history of fragility, violent conflict, political turmoil, and service delivery challenges are some of the reasons for the low human capital outcomes, which go beyond the sectors traditionally associated with human development. The Iraqi economy’s heavy reliance on oil revenues and an inability of the political institutions to enact and sustainably implement lasting reforms impede much-needed investments in human capital. Without urgent reform and a focus on investing in its people, Iraq stands to squander the economic opportunity afforded to it by the country’s young and dynamic population in the form of a ‘demographic dividend’.
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“World Bank. 2024. Iraq Human Capital Review: A Roadmap to Human Capital Recovery in Iraq. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/42203 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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