The State of People and Knowledge in the GCC Countries per a New Index and the Future Ahead

TheGulfCooperationCouncil(GCC)countries,withtheirrichoilresources,arefacingtheproblem offallenoilpricesontheonehand,andreducedoilreservesontheother.Asaresult,theyaremoving towardlessdependenceonoil,andincreasingdependenceonpeopleandknowledge.Thispaper developsawidescope“peopleandknowledgeindex(PKI)”usingrelevantinternationalindicators madeavailablebyvariousinternationalorganizations.Theindexincludes“tenbuildingblocks.”Four oftheseblocksareconcernedwiththe“coreissues”ofpeopleandknowledge;whiletheothersix blocksarerelatedtothe“environmentissues”accordingtowhichpeopleandknowledgeinteract.The paperassessestheGCCcountriesaccordingtotheindexrevealingtheirstrengthsandweaknesses,and enablingthederivationofguidelinesfortheirfuturedevelopment.Theresultingguidelinesconsider howtheGCCcountriescandirecttheirfuturedevelopmenttowardahighandgrowingstandardof living,whilereducingdependenceonoil.Finally,thefutureuseofthenewindexishighlighted. KeywoRdS Bahrain, Knowledge, Kuwait, Oman, People, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, The GCC Countries, United Arab Emirates