India ranks 132 in UNDP’s Human Development Index, amid a global fall

Source: The post is based on the article “India ranks 132 in UNDP’s Human Development Index, amid a global fall” published in The Hindu on 9th September 2022.

What is the News?

India ranks 132 out of 191 countries in the Human Development Index(HDI) 2021.

What is the Human Development Index(HDI)?

Released by: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 

Purpose: HDI was created to emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone.

Dimensions and Indicators

What are the key findings of the index?

India’s Rank: India’s rank on the Index has slipped from 130 in 2020 to 132 in 2021.

– India’s HDI value stood at 0.633 in 2021 which was lower than the world average of 0.732.

– The drop in India’s HDI can be primarily attributed to falling life expectancy — 69.7 in 2020 to 67.2 years in 2021.

– India’s expected years of schooling stand at 11.9 years, and the mean years of schooling are at 6.7 years. The Gross National Income(GNI) per capita level is $6,590.

– India has shown a slight improvement in its Gender Inequality Index value in 2021 as compared to the 2020 index (0.490 vs 0.493), after gender inequality worsened between 2019 and 2020.

– India’s policies on the 3Is (investment from renewable energy to preparedness for pandemics; insurance including social protection; and innovation) hold promise for the rest of the world.

– For instance, over the last decade, India has lifted a staggering 271 million out of multidimensional poverty. The country is improving access to clean water, sanitation and affordable clean energy.

– India has also boosted access to social protection for vulnerable sections of society, especially during and after the pandemic with a 9.8% increase in the budgetary allocation to the social services sector in 2021-22 over 2020-21.

Global findings

The index has been topped by Switzerland.

– 90% of countries have registered a reduction in their HDI value in 2020 or 2021.

– A large contributor to the HDI’s recent decline is a global drop in life expectancy, down from 72.8 years in 2019 to 71.4 years in 2021.

– The key reasons behind the decline in Human Development in the last two years are the crises the world faced. This included COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine coupled with social and economic shifts and dangerous planetary changes.