Context: India has moved up a rank on the global Human Development Index (HDI) and Gender Inequality Index (GII) of 2023-24, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report.
Key finding of the reports:
- Human Development Index (HDI) 2023-24
- India’s ranking on the HDI improved by one position in 2022 to 134 out of 193 countries ranked compared to 135 out of 191 countries in 2021.
- In 2022, India saw improvements across all HDI indicators: life expectancy, education, and gross national income (GNI) per capita.
- Life expectancy rose from 67.2 to 67.7 years, expected years of schooling reached 12.6, mean years of schooling increased to 6.57 and GNI per capita saw an increase from USD 6,542 to USD 6,951.
- With an HDI value of 0.644, the latest HDR places India in the medium human development category.
- Performance of other countries: Switzerland (1), Sri Lanka (78), China (75), Bhutan (125),Bangladesh, (129), Nepal (146) and Pakistan (164) have been ranked lower than India.
- Gender Inequality Index (GII) 2023-24
- India has been ranked at 108 out of 193 countries with a score of 0.437.
- Its rank was 122 out of 191 countries with a score of 0.490 in the GII-2021.
- India has one of the largest gender gaps in its labour force participation rate a 47.8 per cent difference between women (28.3 per cent) and men (76.1 per cent).
- The GII measures gender inequalities in three key dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and labour market.
- India’s adolescent birth rate in 2022 was 16.3 (births per 1,000 women ages 15-19), an improvement from 17.1 in 2021.
- India’s rank in the GII has become consistently better, indicating progressive improvement in achieving gender equality in the country.
About United Nations Development Programme (UNDP):
- It is the UN's global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life.
- UNDP works in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality.
- It helps countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities, and to build resilience to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
- UNDP has its headquarters in New York City.
- It is funded entirely by voluntary contributions from member nations.
- Their work is concentrated on three main focus areas:
- Sustainable development
- Democratic governance and peacebuilding
- Climate and disaster resilience
- Reports published by UNDP:
- Global Multi-dimensional Poverty Index
- Gender Inequality Index (GII)
- Human Development Index (HDI)