Fuelled by the housing needs of millions of people, India and China are seeing

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the "greatest demand" for labour in the construction sector, a report by the World Economic Forum has said.

Two of the world's most populous countries, India and China, are also among the fastest growing large economies.

"The world's greatest labour demand in construction is found in China and India, which is not surprising, given the need to house millions of people," the latest Global Talent Risk report has said.

Prepared by the WEF in association with the Boston Consulting Group, the report analysed projected talent shortages in 25 countries, including India.

According to the study, BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations have a fairly constant overall labour demand growth trend across industries.

"For instance, in financial services, BRICs will see much more change in their future talent line-ups than they do today ... The demand trend in clusters such as manufacturing professionals will grow sharply as more sophisticated products are developed," it noted.

Stressing human capital as the "engine of economic prosperity", the study said there is increasing demand for highly-skilled people worldwide.

"Employability will continue to be a huge problem worldwide. Because of the uneven quality of education systems, (for instance) only 25 per cent of Indian and 20 per cent of Russian professionals are currently considered employable by multinationals," the report said.

Huge demand for highly-skilled professionals is expected to be witnessed in companies, especially those in trade, transport and communication sectors in developing nations.

Health care research and development (R&D) is expected to generate enormous demand for skilled labour worldwide.

Many countries would have an aged population by 2050, a scenario that could further increase the demand for talent.

"Compared to today, in 2050, ... All BRIC countries will have more than doubled age 65 and older dependency ratios, and all except India will have more aged societies than today's most-aged society (Japan)," it added.