A UN study ranked India at 134 out of 187 countries in terms of Human Development Index. The study however observed that life expectancy at birth in India has increased by 10.1 per cent a year over the last two decades.
In the 2010 Human Development Report, prepared by UNDP, India had been ranked at 119 out of 169 countries. However, according to the new report for 2011, it is misleading to compare values and rankings with those of previously published reports as the underlying data and methods have changed, as well as the number of countries included in the Human Development Index.
India's Human Development Index (HDI)
The report highlighted India's Human Development Index (HDI) value for 2011 was 0.547 positioning the country in the medium human development category. Between 1980 and 2011, India's HDI value increased from 0.344 to 0.547, an increase of 59 per cent or an average annual increase of about 1.5 per cent.
The report pointed out that the India's HDI of 0.547 was below the average of 0.630 for countries in the medium human development group and below the average of 0.548 for countries in South Asia.
The report mentioned that mean year of schooling for the country increased by 3.9 years between 1980 and 2011 and expected years of schooling increased by 3.9 years.
Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh admitted that the biggest block in the human development indices for India is in the field of sanitation where 58 per cent of open defecation in the world takes place in India.
The UN report also mentioned that between 1980 and 2011, India's life expectancy at birth increased by 10.1 years.
Gender Inquality Index
In terms of gender inquality index, the report highlighted that in India, 10.7 per cent of Parliamentary seats are held by women and 26.6 per cent of adult women have reached a secondary or higher level of education compared to 50.4 per cent of their male counterparts.
For every 100000 live births, 230 women die from pregnancy-related causes and the adolescent fertility rate is 86.3 births per 1000 live births.
Female participation in the labour market is 32.8 per cent compared to 81.1 per men, the report says.
The gender inequality index reflects gender-based inequalities in three dimensions - reproductive health, empowerment and economic activity.
Human Development Index (HDI)
The HDI is a measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development such as a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.
The five countries who topped the Human Development Index study are as follows (The countries'sequence follow their respective ranks): Norway, Australia, Netherlands, US, New Zealand
Neighbouring countries Pakistan was ranked at 145 (0.504) and Bangladesh at 146 (0.500) respectively in terms of HDI as per the UN study.
