NEW DELHI: India is ranked 131 of 189 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI), two places below from last year, according to a report released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
By adjusting its HDI to include two more factors of carbon dioxide emissions and material footprint, the Human Development Report (HDR) 2020 shows how the global development landscape would change if both the well- being of people and also the planet were made central to defining humanity’s progress.
Norway topped the index, followed by Ireland, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Iceland making to the top five in the list. Among Asian countries, Singapore was ranked (11), Saudi Arabia (40) and Malaysia (62) with “very high human development” followed by Sri Lanka (72), Thailand (79) and China (85) were tagged as “high human development” countries.
India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Cambodia, Kenya, and Pakistan were ranked under countries with medium human development. India’s Gross National Income (GNI) per capita fell to $6,681 in 2019 from $6,829 in 2018 on PPP basis, it said.
“India’s HDI value for 2019 is 0.645, which put the country in the medium human development category. Between 1990 and 2019, India’s HDI value increased from 0.429 to 0.645, an increase of 50.3 percent,” the report said.
UNDP resident representative Shoko Noda said the drop in India’s ranking doesn’t mean “India didn’t do well but other countries did better.” “India can help other countries too and lauded its commitment to reduce carbon emissions.’’
The 30th-anniversary edition of UNDP’s Human Development Report, includes a new experimental index that takes into account countries’ carbon dioxide emissions and material footprint. Countries must redesign their development pathways to reduce damage to the environment and the natural world, or risk stalling progress for humanity overall, the report warned.