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Report Home

  • Data Explorer
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  • User’s Guide
  • [ — Divider — ]
  • Preface
  • Key Findings
  • Global Human Capital Report 2017
    • Underlying concepts
    • Subindexes
    • Index Construction
    • Results
    • Results by Region
      • East Asia and the Pacific
      • Eastern Europe and Central Asia
      • Latin America and the Caribbean
      • Middle East and North Africa
      • North America
      • South Asia
      • Sub-Saharan Africa
      • Western Europe
      • Box 1: G20
      • Box 2: European Union
    • Results by Income Group
    • Results by Subindex
    • Thematic Analysis
      • Capacity
      • Deployment
      • Development
      • Know-how
    • Conclusion
    • References
    • Appendices
      • A: Regional and Income Group Classifications, 2017
      • B: Technical Notes
  • Download full publication as PDF
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  • [ — Divider — ]
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Human Capital Report 2017 Home
  • Report Home
  • Data Explorer
  • Shareable Infographics
  • User’s Guide
  • [ — Divider — ]
  • Preface
  • Key Findings
  • Global Human Capital Report 2017
    • Underlying concepts
    • Subindexes
    • Index Construction
    • Results
    • Results by Region
      • East Asia and the Pacific
      • Eastern Europe and Central Asia
      • Latin America and the Caribbean
      • Middle East and North Africa
      • North America
      • South Asia
      • Sub-Saharan Africa
      • Western Europe
      • Box 1: G20
      • Box 2: European Union
    • Results by Income Group
    • Results by Subindex
    • Thematic Analysis
      • Capacity
      • Deployment
      • Development
      • Know-how
    • Conclusion
    • References
    • Appendices
      • A: Regional and Income Group Classifications, 2017
      • B: Technical Notes
  • Download full publication as PDF
  • Press Release
  • Blog and opinion
  • [ — Divider — ]
  • System Initiative
  • System Initiative Partners
  • About the authors
  • Acknowledgements
  • Related Forum reports and activities

Box 2: European Union

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The 28 member states of the European Union collectively achieve a group average score of exactly 70%, with 13 member states individually passing the 70% threshold and the remaining 15 member states making use of 60% to 70% of their human capital. Finland (2), Denmark (5) and Sweden (8) are joined in the top five by Germany (6) and Slovenia (9), which, together with Estonia (12), is the highest-scoring new member state. Next in the EU-only ranking are two of the Benelux states—the Netherlands (13) and Belgium (15)—ahead of Ireland (19), the Czech Republic (22) and France (26), which rounds off the upper half of the EU’s group league table. Despite generally strong overall human capital performances, many European Union countries, such as Spain (44) and Greece (48), are experiencing structural difficulties with regard to high youth unemployment that prevent them from leveraging the full extent of their human capital. Perceptions also vary regarding the quality of member states’ education systems and staff training, pointing to member states’ uneven levels of preparedness for the labour market of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. As part of its long-term human capital strategy, in June 2016 the European Union launched its new Skills Agenda for Europe, stating that “90% of all jobs will soon require some level of digital skills; yet, today, 40% of Europeans have none.”9

9
9 European Commission, Ten actions to help equip people in Europe with better skills [Press release], 10 June 2016, http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-2039_en.htm, accessed August 2017.
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