Human Development Index: A snapshot

Though improvements are visible, India lingers behind

Last year I wrote on HDI, which is an index incorporating ten indicators under the broad criteria of education, health and living standard. New data propel me to revisit HDI. Further, this year too, I am writing on HDI after writing on income distribution the previous month, for nothing could be more useful than examining India’s HDI in the context of static income distribution.

India’s cross-country HDI rank is 130 out of 188 countries in 2017 (Table 1) in contrast to 131 in 2015 (shown in my October 17, 2017 article), thus demonstrating little improvement. Its HDI — maximum being 1