Eduction and Economy -- An Analysis of Statistical Data

In this paper the correlation between education, research and macroeconomic strength of countries at a global scale is analyzed on the basis of statistical data published by the UNIDO and OECD. It uses sets of composite indicators describing the economical performance and competitiveness as well as those relevant for human development, education, knowledge and technology achievement and correlates them. It turns out that for countries with a human development index (HDI) below 0.7 the basic education and technology achievement indices are the driving force for further development, whereas for the industrialized countries the knowledge index as a composite education and communication index has the strongest effect on the economic strength of a country as measured by the gross domestic product.