Human Development Index: India Ranks 131

• 17 Dec 2020

• India has slipped one rank to 131 among 189 countries in the Human Development Index for 2019 compared to 130 the previous year, according to United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Report 2020 released on 16th December 2020.
• The absolute value of the index has gone up for India to 0.645 in 2019 (the year under consideration) compared to 0.642 the year before, reflecting overall better performance.
• In all four HDI indicators, India’s performance has either improved in 2019 compared to 2018 or remained the same:

• Life Expectancy at Birth (SDG3): Improved to 69.7 years compared to 69.4 years the year before.
• Gross National Income (GNI) Per Capita (SDG 8.5): $6,681 in 2019 was higher than $6,427 in 2018.
• Expected Years of Schooling (SDG 4.3): Remained same as previous year at 12.2
• Mean Year of Schooling (SDG4.4): Remained same as previous year at 6.5

New Experimental Elements: Planetary Pressure Adjusted HDI

• For the first time, the United Nations Development Programme introduced a new metric to reflect the impact caused by each country’s per-capita carbon emissions and its material footprint, which measures the amount of fossil fuels, metals and other resources used to make the goods and services it consumes.
• In Planetary Pressure Adjusted HDI India’s ranking improves by eight positions. India’s performance is much better in these compared to most countries higher up on the HDI.