India slips one rank in UN human index rating

The HDI value of Asia’s third-largest economy was 0.633 in 2021, down from 0.642 in 2020, behind South Asian neighbours such as Bangladesh (129th), Bhutan (127th), Sri Lanka (73rd) and China (79th). Switzerland, with an HDI value of 0.962, occupied the top spot in the global ranking.

India ranked 132 out of 191 countries in the 2021 global Human Development Index (HDI), a measure of overall wellbeing, as it slipped one position from 2020, according to a United Nations report published Thursday.

The HDI was created to emphasise that “people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone”, the report said.

The HDI value of Asia’s third-largest economy was 0.633 in 2021, down from 0.642 in 2020, behind South Asian neighbours such as Bangladesh (129th), Bhutan (127th), Sri Lanka (73rd) and China (79th). Switzerland, with an HDI value of 0.962, occupied the top spot in the global ranking.

In contrast to gross domestic product (GDP), which is a gauge only of incomes or output in an economy, the HDI is a composite index computed on the basis of three parameters — life expectancy, mean years of schooling, and average incomes. India’s HDI value of 0.633 correlates to a “medium human development category country”, the report said.

The slippage on quality of life, and attainments in basic schooling and healthcare come despite a fast-growing economy, underlining the need for greater investments in human development, experts said. India has slid on the rankings two years in a row — 2020 and 2021.

The HDI was created to emphasise that “people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone”, the report said.

The HDI’s methodology and conceptual foundations were developed by economists Amartya Sen and Mahbub ul Haq, who brought out the first HDI report in 1990 based on the so-called “human capabilities approach”.

An average Indian’s lifespan in 2021 stood at 67.2 years, down from 70.1 years in 2020, the report said. Expected years of schooling in 2021 — at 11.9 years — was same as in 2020, as was the mean years of schooling — a kind of average — at 6.7 years.

“Our progress on these counts is slow because we have not paid attention. Headline numbers such as GDP get more attention and human development has not become a political issue,” said economist Himanshu of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, who goes by one name.