India continued to rank low in the Human Development Index (HDI), but climbed one step to 130 in a list of 189 countries in the latest United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report on account of rise in life expectancy, education and per capita income.
India's HDI value for 2017 is 0.640, which put the country in the medium human development category. Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Ireland and Germany lead the ranking, while Niger, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Chad and Burundi have the lowest scores in the HDI. Within South Asia, India's HDI value is above the average of 0.638 for the region, with Bangladesh and Pakistan — both with similar population size — being ranked 136 and 150 respectively.
Between 1990 and 2017, India's life expectancy at birth increased by 10.9 years, mean years of schooling increased by 3.4 years and expected years of schooling increased by 4.7 years. India's Gross per capita income also increased by about 266.6 percent between 1990 and 2017. According to report, between 1990 and 2017, India's HDI value increased from 0.427 to 0.640, an increase of nearly 50 percent. The report was released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Friday.
India's HDI for 2017 was 0.640. However, when the value is discounted for inequality, the HDI falls to 0.468, a loss of 26.8 percent due to inequality in the distribution of the HDI dimension indices. The average loss due to inequality for medium HDI countries is 25.1 percent and for South Asia it is 26.1 percent. The Human inequality coefficient for India is equal to 26.3 percent. The report said 26.8 percent of India's HDI value is lost on account of inequalities — a greater loss than for most of its South Asian neighbours (the average loss for the region is 26.1 percent).
"This confirms that inequality remains a challenge for India as it progresses economically, though the Government in India and various State Governments have, through a variety of social protection measures, attempted to ensure that the gains of economic development are shared widely and reach the farthest first,' it said.
The report says India has a gender inequality index ( GII ) value of 0.524, ranking it 127 out of 160 countries in the 2017 index. In India, 11.6 percent of parliamentary seats are held by women, and 39.0 percent of adult women have reached at least a secondary level of education compared to 63.5 percent of their male counterparts. For every 100,000 live births, 174 women die from pregnancy related causes; and the adolescent birth rate is 23.1 births per 1,000 women of ages 15-19. Female participation in the labour market is 27.2 percent compared to 78.8 for men.
The report further points out that a child born today in Norway, which is top in the list, can expect to live beyond 82 years old and spend almost 18 years in school. While a child born in Nigeria, lowest in the HDI list, can expect only to live to 60 and spend just five years in school.
"On average, a child born today in a country with low human development can expect to live just over 60 years, while a child born in a country with very high human development can expect to live to almost 80,"said Achim Steiner UNDP Administrator.