Investigation of Human Capital Index Value and Income Distrubution in European and Central Asian Countries: The Case of Turkey

Abstract

Educational indicators offer a straightforward means of gauging a country's education. Besides, evaluation based on these indicators is of great significance and value. Nonetheless, education does not take place in a vacuum, and thus these indicators are results of the conditions in a country. Particularly, time and money spent on education, the family's share in economic distribution play a role in determining the current state of education. So, this study aims to evaluate the current state of education in Turkey by examining human capital indices and income distribution in countries in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. For this purpose, the study uses data from the World Bank. The results of the study indicate that children born in developed countries can access near 80% of their potential upon reaching their productive age, compared to only 65% in Turkey. Additionally, Turkey has the greatest degree of income inequality, as indicated by its GINI coefficients, among other countries in the ECA region. Moreover, there are vast disparities between the income of the top 20% and the bottom 20% of Turkey’s population.