India moves to 'medium' category on human development index

Rise in life expectancy, schooling bright spots; regional disparities in education, health a concern

India ranks 131 out of 188 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI) prepared by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The country has jumped four positions over a five-year period, from 2010 to 2015. 

India is now classified in the category of “medium” human development, compared to the “low” category in the 1990s, because of factors such as an increase in life expectancy and mean years of schooling in the past 25 years.

Norway leads the latest ranking followed by Australia, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark. With an HDI value of 0.624, India is behind other Asian countries such as Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

The bad news for India in the Human Development Report 2016 is that regional disparities in education, health and living standards have reduced the country’s HDI value by 27 per cent, from 0.624 to 0.454. The report estimates the gini-coefficient, a measure of inequality, in India at 35.2. But according to the report, relative global inequality has declined steadily over the past few decades, “driven by declining inequality between countries arising from the extraordinary economic growth in, primarily, China and India.”

The report says improvement in India’s ranking over the past decades reflects improvements in life expectancy and mean years of schooling in the past 25 years. The estimates presented in the report show life expectancy in India at birth is 68.3 years with mean years of schooling at 6.3 years. For women, the life expectancy is higher at 69.9 years, while for men it is 66.9 years. But mean years of schooling for women is lower at 4.8 years, against 8.2 years for men. On the gender inequality index, India ranks 125. 

“The success of national development programmes like Skill India, Digital India, Make in India and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao aimed at bridging gaps in human development will be crucial in ensuring the success of Agenda 2030,” says Yuri Afanasiev, UN resident coordinator for India.