  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.

Physics and Society;Physics Education;General Finance