India has ranked very poorly at 133 in a new Global Youth Development Index compiled by the Commonwealth Secretariat on the countries' prospects for young people in employment, education, health, civic and political spheres.
India ranked 133rd in the index covering 183 nations, below neighbouring countries like Nepal (77), Bhutan (69) and Sri Lanka (31) andtrailing behind the South Asian average.
However, the report released last week found that it has registered an 11 per cent improvement in scores over the last five years, highlighting the need for greater investment to reap the so-called demographic dividend.
"One in five young people in the world today live in India, which makes it one of the most youthful countries on the planet," said Abhik Sen, the lead author of the '2016 Global Youth Development Index' report.
"While India's overall rank is relatively low, it has registered an impressive improvement of nearly 11 per cent in its youth development scores in the period between 2010 and 2015. The research for this report also shows that youth development levels in India lag particularly in the domains of health, education and employment. Improvements in these sectors will give India a much better chance of reaping a handsome demographic dividend," he said.
The improvement in India's score between 2010 and 2015 is explained by a significant rise in the proportion of young people with an account at a formal financial institution (58 per cent increase), reduction in the adolescent fertility rate (29 per cent fall), adoption of a new youth policy, and improvement in the gross secondary enrollment rate (9 per cent rise).
The report highlights that India accounts for nearly 20 per cent of the global youth population, with nearly 345 million young people between the ages of 15 and 30 living in the country.
This makes India one of the countries currently experiencing the most significant "youth bulge" - with nearly 27 per cent of its total population made up of young people.
The areas where improvements are called for include education, employment opportunity and health and wellbeing.
In India, one in every three children (31 per cent) is not enrolled in secondary schools, against a global score for the same indicator of 19 per cent. In the field of employment opportunities, India trails behind the rest of the world significantly, ranking 152nd.
The top 10 countries on the index are largely from Europe - Germany (1), Denmark (2), Switzerland (4), United Kingdom (5), Netherlands (6), Austria (7), Luxembourg (8), Portugal (9) - with Australia (3) and Japan (10) as the two exceptions.
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In the health and wellbeing domain, India performs below the South Asian average. Except Afghanistan, all other South Asian countries including Pakistan and Bangladesh outperform India, largely due to high youth mortality rates and years of life lost due to mental disorders.
China, which has a youth population of 525 million, is doing significantly better than India on similar parameters. For instance, while 69 per cent of India's children are enrolled in secondary education, the corresponding figure for China is 96 per cent; and the youth mortality rate for India is almost 2.5 times that of China's.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland said: "The index throws down a challenge to policy-makers everywhere: without action to promote young people's empowerment, boosting opportunities for employment and opening up spaces for political dialogue, countries will be squandering their most precious resource and storing up problems for the future."
Looking at 18 indicators, including literacy and mental disorder rates, financial inclusion and voter engagement, the index is aimed at showcasing the best-performing countries and shining a warning light for low-scoring countries.
