News Highlight
The Human Development Index (HDI) is the second most widely used indicator for measuring economic progress after national income statistics (GDP).
Key Takeaway
- The latest HDI reading released (2022) by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ranked India at 132 out of 191 countries.
- Switzerland is the top-ranked country.
Human Development Index (HDI)
- About
- It is a tool used to measure a country’s overall achievement in its social and economic dimensions.
- The rank indicates the state of a nation’s health, education and average income.
- Origin:
- The measure was created by Mahbub ul Haq and Amartya Sen, two renowned economists from Pakistan and India.
- Published by:
- It is published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Dimensions of the Human Development Index
- A Long and Healthy Life:
- Life expectancy at birth is used to calculate the dimension of a long and healthy life.
- Life expectancy at birth is a statistical measure of how long an average person is expected to live based on demographic factors such as birth year and current age.
- Education:
- The HDI’s second dimension is education.
- The expected years of schooling and the mean years are the education indicators.
- Standard of Living:
- Gross National Income (GNI) per capita is commonly used to assess the standard of living.
- The Gross National Product (GNP) measures a country’s residents’ total domestic and foreign output.
Top Performers:
- European states were among the best overall performers, with as many as 8 in the top 10 of the list.
- Switzerland
- Norway
- Iceland
- Denmark
- Sweden
- Ireland
- Germany
- The Netherlands
Asian Region:
- Sri Lanka emerged as the best performer in the Indian sub-continent.
- Sri Lanka was followed by
- China
- Bhutan
- Bangladesh
- India
- Nepal
- Pakistan
HDI 2021- 2022, and India:
- Rank:
- India’s rank on the Human Development Index has slipped from 130 in 2020 to 132 in 2022.
- India’s HDI value stood at 0.633 in 2021, which was lower than the world average of 0.732. In 2020, too, India recorded a decline in its HDI value (0.642) compared to the pre-Covid level of 2019 (0.645).
- Reasons behind India’s drop:
- Like global trends, in India’s case, the drop in HDI from 0.645 in 2019 to 0.633 in 2021 can be attributed to falling life expectancy.
Content Source: Time of India