The Human Capital Index Plus 2026: Methodology Note

The World Bank launched the Human Capital Index (HCI) to highlight the importance of investments in human capital and to benchmark key components of human capital across countries. This HCI is an international metric that measures the amount of human capital a child born today can be expected to attain by age 18, given the risks of poor health and education that prevail in the country where they live (World Bank 2018). It highlights how improvements in current health and education outcomes shape the productivity of the next generation of workers, assuming that children born today experience over the next 18 years the educational opportunities and health risks that children in this age range currently face.