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News: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released Human Development Index 2019.
Facts:
Key takeaways:
- Norway ranked first in HDI 2019, followed by Switzerland and Ireland. Burundi ranked last (189)
- India ranked 129 out of 189 countries in 2019. HDI value was 0.647. India had ranked 130 in 2018.
- Among India’s neighbours, Sri Lanka ranked 71, China ranked 85. Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan were ranked lower than India.
Additional Information:
About HDI
- It measures the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development:
1. A long and healthy life- measured by Life expectancy at birth
2. Access to knowledge: measured by Mean years of schooling and Expected years of schooling
3. A decent standard of living- measured by Gross National Income (GNI) per capita (PPP US$).
- Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq created HDI in 1990, deriving the dimensions from Amartya Sen’s capability approach.
Other important indexes published by UNDP
- Multidimensional Poverty Index: It identifies multiple deprivations at the individual level in health, education and standard of living.
- Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI): It adjusts the Human Development Index (HDI) for inequality in the distribution of each dimension across the population.
- Gender Inequality Index (GII): It reflects women’s disadvantage in three dimensions—reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market.
- Gender Development Index: It addresses gender-gaps in the dimensions of HDI: life expectancy, education, and incomes.
- Gender Empowerment Measure: It is based on estimates of women’s relative economic income, participation in high-paying positions with economic power, and access to professional and parliamentary positions.
- Multidimensional gender social norms index: It shows how social beliefs can obstruct gender and women’s empowerment. It takes into account four dimensions – political, educational, economic and physical integrity.
