‘Since 1990, life expectancy at birth rose by 9.1 yrs’

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, March 14

After a drop in 2021, India’s Human Development Index (HDI) value has increased to 0.644 in 2022, placing the country at 134th spot, up by one position, out of 193 countries in the just released 2023-24 Human Development Report (HDR) titled “Breaking the Gridlock: Reimagining Cooperation in a Polarised World”.

The report builds on the 2021–22 HDR findings, which saw the global HDI value fall for the first time—two years in a row—and reveals that while rich countries attained record human development, half of the poorest remain below their pre-crisis level of progress.

It says that in 2022, India saw improvements across all HDI indicators—life expectancy, education and Gross National Income (GNI) per capita. Life expectancy rose from 67.2 to 67.7 years, expected years of schooling reached 12.6, mean years of schooling increased to 6.57, and GNI per capita saw an increase from $6,542 to $6,951. India also demonstrated progress in reducing gender inequality. India’s GII value of 0.437 is better than the global and South Asian averages. “India has shown remarkable progress in human development over the years. 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. This highlights the country’s commitment over time to not only accelerating economic growth but also improving the quality of life for all its citizens,” said Caitlin Wiesen, Resident Representative, UNDP India.

Progress in reducing gender inequality

• India has shown progress in reducing gender inequality and ranks 108 out of 166 countries
• India’s showed gender inequality index (GII) value of 0.437 in 2022
• It’s better than the global average of 0.462

Gaps in labour force

The report red-flags India for one of the largest gender gaps in the labour force participation rate—a 47.8 percentage points difference between women (28.3%) and men (76.1%)