Question: What is the rank of India in 2019 Human Development Index published by the ?
(a) 129
(b) 124
(c) 125
(d) 119
Answer: (a)
Related facts:
- The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released the 2019 Human Development Report (HDR), entitled “Beyond income, beyond averages, beyond today: inequalities in human development in the 21st Century”.
- India was ranked 129 out of 189 countries on the 2019 Human Development Index (HDI) up one position from the 130th rank in 2018.
Human Development Index:
- HDI emphasizes that rather than evaluating a country by GDO, it is much better to evaluate its human development.
- The HDI measures average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development —
- life expectancy
- education and
- per capita income
The rankings:
- Norway, Switzerland and Ireland occupied the top three positions in that order.
- Among India’s neighbors, Sri Lanka (71) and China (85) are higher up the rank scale.
- Bhutan (134), Bangladesh (135), Myanmar (145), Nepal (147), Pakistan (152) and Afghanistan (170) were ranked lower on the list.
Region Wise Performance:
- South Asia was the fastest growing region in human development progress witnessing a 46% growth over 1990-2018.
- It is followed by East Asia and the Pacific at 43%.
Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index:
- The IHDI indicates percentage loss in HDI due to inequality.
- India’s HDI value increased by 50% (from 0.431 to 0.647), which places it above the average for other South Asian countries (0.642).
- However, for inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI), India’s position drops by one position to 130, losing nearly half the progress (.647 to .477) made in the past 30 years.
Gender Inequality Index (GII):
- GII presents a composite measure of gender inequality using three dimensions:
- Reproductive health
- Empowerment and
- The labour market
- In the Gender Inequality Index (GII), India is at 122 out of 162 countries.
- Neighboring countries China (39), Sri Lanka (86), Bhutan (99), Myanmar (106) are above India.
- The world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030 as per the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. It may take 202 years to close the gender gap in economic opportunity — one of the three indicators of the GII.