Kazakhstan Reaches 38th Rank in Global Social Mobility Index

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan ranks 38th among 82 countries in the latest global social mobility index released Jan. 19 by the World Economic Forum.

Social mobility is understood as the movement in personal circumstances either upwards or downwards of an individual in relation to those of the previous generation. It is the ability of a child to experience a better life than their parents.

The Global Social Mobility Index benchmarks 82 global economies. It assesses countries according to their performance on five key dimensions of social mobility distributed over ten pillars. Key indicators are health; education (access, quality and equity, lifelong learning); technology; work (opportunities, wages, conditions); and protection and institutions (social protection and inclusive institutions).
Kazakhstan ranks 38th globally, with an overall score of 64.8 points. It is ahead of the Russian Federation ranked 39th globally with a score of 64.7 points and China ranked 45th with a score of 61.5 points.
Denmark (85.2), Finland (83.6), Norway (83.6), Sweden (83.5) and Iceland (82.7) lead the social mobility ranking.
Kazakhstan’s highest scores are in the area of work opportunities (74.9), education quality and equity (74.7) and health (71.4) pillars.
In the working conditions pillar, Kazakhstan ranks 16th (69.1) going before Singapore, Australia and Canada. In the fair wage distribution pillar, Kazakhstan ranks 25th globally (61.2), pulling ahead of Germany and the U.K.
In the education access pillar, Kazakhstan is placed 32nd (69.9). In the lifelong learning pillar, the country ranks 46th (51.1), in technology access, the country ranks 51st (69.7).
In the social protection and inclusive institutions category, Kazakhstan is placed 43rd (56.5) and 63rd (49.7) respectively.
According to the report, the economies with greater social mobility provide more equally shared opportunities, namely, an equal and meritocratic footing irrespective of socio-economic background, geographic location, gender or origin.
The Global Social Mobility Index equips policy-makers with a tool to identify areas for improving social mobility and promoting opportunities for the citizens, regardless of the development stage the country finds itself in.
The report also adds that if countries included in this report were to increase their social mobility index score by 10 points, this would result in an additional GDP growth of 4.41 percent by 2030 in addition to the vast social cohesion added benefits.
BY ABIRA KUANDYK in INTERNATIONAL