India up one rank in UN development index

News: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released Human Development Index 2019.

Facts:

Key takeaways:

  •  Norway ranked first in HDI 2019, followed by Switzerland and Ireland. Burundi ranked last (189)
  • India ranked 129 out of 189 countries in 2019. HDI value was 0.647. India had ranked 130 in 2018.
  • Among India’s neighbours, Sri Lanka ranked 71, China ranked 85. Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan were ranked lower than India.

Additional Information:

About HDI

  •  It measures the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development:

1.       A long and healthy life- measured by Life expectancy at birth

2.       Access to knowledge: measured by Mean years of schooling and Expected years of schooling

3.       A decent standard of living- measured by Gross National Income (GNI) per capita (PPP US$).

  • Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq created HDI in 1990, deriving the dimensions from Amartya Sen’s capability approach. 

Other important indexes published by UNDP

  1. Multidimensional Poverty Index: It identifies multiple deprivations at the individual level in health, education and standard of living.
  2.  Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI): It adjusts the Human Development Index (HDI) for inequality in the distribution of each dimension across the population. 
  3.  Gender Inequality Index (GII): It reflects women’s disadvantage in three dimensions—reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market.
  4. Gender Development Index: It addresses gender-gaps in the dimensions of HDI: life expectancy, education, and incomes.
  5. Gender Empowerment Measure: It is based on estimates of women’s relative economic income, participation in high-paying positions with economic power, and access to professional and parliamentary positions.
  6. Multidimensional gender social norms index: It shows how social beliefs can obstruct gender and women’s empowerment. It takes into account four dimensions – political, educational, economic and physical integrity.