The Human Development Index (HDI) released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is an annual publication that assesses the development status of countries worldwide based on key indicators. The HDI is the geometric mean of normalized indices for each of the three dimensions, i.e. health, knowledge and standard of living.
Components of HDI:
• Long and healthy life: For this, life expectancy at birth is measured. It is the number of years a newborn is expected to live if mortality patterns at the time of its birth remain constant in the future.
• Knowledge: For this, two subcomponents are calculated.
o Expected years of schooling: Number of years of schooling that a child of school entrance age can expect to receive if prevailing patterns of age-specific enrolment rates persist throughout the child’s life.
o Mean years of schooling: Average number of years of education received by people aged 25 years and older, converted from education attainment levels using official durations of each level.
• Decent standard of living: For this, the Gross National Income per capita in PPP terms in US dollars is calculated. GNI is the sum of value added by all resident producers plus any product taxes (less subsidies) not included in the valuation of output plus net receipts of primary income. It is converted to international dollars using PPP rates and divided by midyear population to measure the standard of living.
India’s Performance on HDI:
• Overall: Between 1990 and 2022, the country saw its HDI value increase by 48.4 per cent, from 0.434 in 1990 to 0.644 in 2022. It highlights India’s remarkable achievement in lifting millions of people out of poverty.
• Sub-indices: Since 1990, life expectancy at birth has risen by 9.1 years; expected years of schooling have increased by 4.6 years, and mean years of schooling have grown by 3.8 years. India’s GNI per capita has grown by approximately 287 per cent.
o However, India’s score dropped in the HDI from 0.645 in 2020 to 0.633 in 2021.
• But in 2022 HDI (released 2024), India again saw improvements across all HDI indicators.
o Life expectancy rose from 67.2 to 67.7 years.
o Expected years of schooling reached 12.6.
o Mean years of schooling increased to 6.57.
o GNI per capita saw an increase from $6,542 to $6,951.
With a renewed focus on women-led development, and digital public goods for people and the planet, India can further unlock socio-economic progress, paving the way for a brighter and more equitable future for all.