By Dr Felix Ijeh
1. The harsh truth: Not all births carry equal economic weight
A child born in Germany, Japan, Canada, or South Korea enters an economic machine built to amplify their potential. A child born in Nigeria, Kenya, Pakistan, or Bangladesh often enters a system where personal success hinges more on family wealth than national capacity. This isn’t sentiment, it’s economics, and the numbers are brutally clear.
2. Developed economies treat children as national investments
Countries such as Norway, Canada, and Germany invest $80,000–$120,000 per child before adulthood.
This includes universal healthcare, high-quality public schooling, digital and physical infrastructure, social protection and income support, as well as skills and vocational training systems.
The system carries the child, not the parents. And because the system is strong, the child becomes a high-productivity adult almost by default.
Productivity is engineered, not accidental
These countries design labour markets around skills, innovation, and technology.
Even average workers produce high output because the foundation is solid: stable institutions, reliable public services, and a culture that rewards productivity.
3. Developing countries push the burden onto families
Low public investment = Low national human capital
In many African and Asian economies, government spending per child is often below $5,000–$10,000 in total. That gap alone explains the long-term inequality. With weak schooling, poor healthcare systems, and fragile institutions, potential gets wasted before it even starts.
Parental wealth determines a child’s economic future
Unlike in developed economies, a child’s prospects in Lagos, Nairobi, Accra, Dhaka, or Karachi depend on:
The parents’ ability to pay for private schools; access to decent healthcare; social connections and informal networks; opportunities for foreign education or migration.
In other words, the country doesn’t carry the child, the parents do. And if the parents can’t, the system has no backup plan.
4. Same talent, different outcomes: The global human capital gap
Two children, same potential —opposite fates
A child in Berlin or Tokyo grows into a high-earning, fully optimized worker because the national system converts potential into productivity.
A child in many developing countries faces bottlenecks that choke off talent; not because they’re less capable, but because the economy isn’t built to elevate them.
This gap drives global inequality
The fallout is everywhere: Brain drain; wage disparities; stunted productivity; migration pressures; persistent poverty traps.
Developing economies lose human capital before it matures, while developed economies gain it without paying for the early investment.
5. The way forward: Nations must start carrying their own children
If poorer economies want to break the cycle, the blueprint is not mysterious:
– Invest heavily in education, not just enrolment
– Modernize healthcare to protect productivity
– Build skills-focused labour markets
– Strengthen institutions that convert ability into economic value
Human capital is the world’s most valuable asset. And until the investment gap shrinks, the economic worth of a child will keep depending on where they’re born and not who they are.
Felix Ijeh Ph.D, FNES, is a distinguished economist, researcher and policy analyst. An ex-banker, he is currently a lecturer at the Department of Economics, Faculty of Management and Social Sciences, Adeyemi Federal University of Education, Ondo. He can be reached via email: good4felix@gmail.com.
