India ranks 132 out of 191 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI) 2021 released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a part of Human Development Report (HDR) 21/2022.
Key Highlights of the report
- India’s rank was 131 in 2020. India’s HDI score of 0.633 places it in the medium human development category, lower than its value of 0.645 in 2018.
- India’s HDRI score drop is in line with the global trend since the outbreak of COVID-19 during which 90 per cent of the countries have fallen backward in human development.
- Most countries have registered a decline in their HDI value. The world over, 9 out of 10 countries have slipped in their human development performance due to multiple crises such as COVID-19, the Ukraine war and environmental challenges.
- Switzerland has ranked first in the UNDP Human Development Index in 2021, mainly due to a rise in life expectancy and a rebound of its income per capita. This is a first for Switzerland, which ranked third in 2020. Switzerland is followed by Iceland and Norway.
HDI calculation
- The Human Development Index (HDI) measures average achievement of a country in three basic dimensions of human development — (1) a long and healthy life, (2) education and (3) a decent standard of living.
- It is calculated using four indicators — 1. life expectancy at birth, 2. mean years of schooling, 3. expected years of schooling, and 4. the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita.
Life expectancy
- 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.
- In India’s case, the drop in HDI from 0.645 in 2018 to 0.633 in 2021 can be attributed to falling life expectancy at birth — 70.7 years to 67.2 years.
- India’s expected years of schooling stand at 11.9 years, and the mean years of schooling are at 6.7 years. The GNI per capita level is $6,590.
- The HDR report says that 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.
Gender inequality increased
- The gender inequality increased 6.7% globally thanks to COVID-19 again.
- India has, however, shown a slight improvement in its Gender Inequality Index value in the latest report as compared to the 2020 index (0.490 vs 0.493), after gender inequality worsened between 2019 and 2020 (0.486 vs 0.493).
- The gender index measures inequality in achievement between women and men in three dimensions — reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market.
