India has moved up a rank on the global Human Development Index (HDI), according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report ‘Breaking the gridlock: Reimagining cooperation in a polarised world’ released on March 13.

The report stated that while India ranked 135 in 2021, it had moved up to 134 in 2022. A total of 193 countries were ranked in 2022 and 191 countries in 2021.

• After a drop in 2021, India’s HDI value increases from 0.633 to 0.644 in 2022, placing the country in the medium human development category.
• With a Gender Inequality Index value of 0.437 in 2022, India has shown progress and fares better than the global average of 0.462 and the South Asian average of 0.478. 
• Global HDI is projected to reach record highs in 2023. However, this progress is uneven. Rich countries are experiencing record levels of human development, while half of the world’s poorest countries remain below their pre-crisis level.
• This uneven progress is leaving the poorest behind, exacerbating inequality, and stoking political polarization on a global scale.