India slipped one position to be placed at 131 rank in the just published Human Development Report 2016. Out of the 188 countries ranked, India’s HDI score improved from 0.615 to 0.624 in 2015, though its rank fell. India’s ranking was 130 last year.
The country continues to improve its score among the Medium Human Development Countries. around 45% of the world’s population live under medium Human Development category countries whose HDI score lies between 0.55 to 0.699.
The Human Development Report published by the UNDP titled with Human Development for Everyone concentrates on low profile human development in some regions. South Asia is one of the worst performing region where India has an overweight.
Gender differences in HDI is the greatest in South Asia and the region is a worst performer even compared to Arab states.
HDI value for women in South Asia is 17.8 percent lower than the HDI value for men, followed by the Arab States with a 14.4 percent difference and Sub-Saharan Africa with 12.3 percent.
“A girl between her first and fifth birthdays in India or Pakistan has a 30–50 percent greater chance of dying than a boy.” Says the report.
Overall, the region is just ahead of the Sub Saharan African region in HDI score.
Inequality is one of the biggest problem for South Asia as the region fares poor in the inequality adjusted HDI. The report indicates that in South Asia, the female HDI value is 20 percent lower than the male HDI value.
