India was ranked 76th place out of 82 on the Global Social Mobility Index compiled by the World Economic Forum.
What is Social Mobility?
- Social mobility can be understood as the movement in personal circumstances either “upwards” or “downwards” of an individual in relation to those of their parents.
- In absolute terms, it is the ability of a child to experience a better life than their parents.
- On the other hand, relative social mobility is an assessment of the impact of socio-economic background on an individual’s outcomes in life.
Key highlights of the Index
- The report also lists India among the five countries that stand to gain the most from a better social mobility score that seeks to measure parameters necessary for creating societies where every person has the same opportunity to fulfill his potential in life irrespective of socioeconomic background.
- The Index measures the inter-generational social mobility in different countries in relation to socioeconomic outcomes.
- Top five performers are all Scandinavian(Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Iceland), while the five economies with the most to gain from boosting social mobility are China, the United States, India, Japan and Germany.
- According to the report, the most socially mobile societies in the world are all European
- According to the Index, among the world’s large emerging economies, the Russian Federation is the most socially mobile of the BRICS countries, ranking Next is China (45th), followed by Brazil (60th), India (76th) and South Africa (77th).
- The report also observed which economies stand to gain the most from increases in social mobility. The economy with the most to gain is China followed by the USA. Next is India, followed by Japan, Germany, Russia, Indonesia, Brazil, the UK and France
Other observations of the report
- It makes a powerful case for stakeholder capitalism. The most socially mobile economies all share an emphasis on effective social policies that benefit communities as well as provide a platform for healthy, competitive economies.
- By comparison, economies that are organized more on shareholder value maximization, or state capitalism, tend to perform less well.
Five factors/dimensions on which the Index is grounded are
- Health(Overall)
- Education
- Education Access
- Education Quality and Equity
- Lifelong Learning
- Technology(Technology Access)
- Work
- Work Opportunities
- Fair Wage Distribution
- Working Conditions
- Resilience & Institutions
- Social Protection
- Inclusive Institutions
India’s performance
- The Index ranks 76th out of 82 economies. It ranks 41st in lifelong learning and 53rd in working conditions.
- The Areas of improvement for India include social protection (76th) and fair wage distribution (79th).
Suggestions
- The report calls for a new financing model for social mobility: Improving tax progressivity on personal income, policies that address wealth concentration and broadly re-balancing the sources of taxation can support the social mobility agenda.
- It states that the mix of public spending and policy incentives must change to put greater emphasis on the factors of social spending.
