Dear Readers, Last week, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released its latest Human Development Report (HDR). Ordinarily, it is enough to look at a country’s score on the Human Development Index (HDI) and compare it to the global average and the score of some other comparable countries. The HDI is a composite of three broad parameters: longevity, education and income per capita. But this year’s HDR is quite different because for the first time in its history — the HDR has been compiled since 1990 — the global HDI value has declined two years in a row, erasing the gains of the preceding five years (see Chart 1). 
And it is not just a matter of the global HDI declining; over 90 per cent of countries experienced a decline in 2020 or 2021 (see Chart 2).  According to a sharply worded foreword by Achim Steiner, Administrator of UNDP, it isn’t just about the Covid pandemic or war in Ukraine. “Layers of uncertainty are stacking up and interacting to unsettle our lives in unprecedented ways. People have faced diseases, wars and environmental disruptions before. But the confluence of destabilizing planetary pressures with growing inequalities, sweeping societal transformations to ease those pressures and widespread polarization present new, complex, interacting sources of uncertainty for the world and everyone in it. That is the new normal,” writes Steiner. That is why it makes sense to look at the whole set of human development indices that the HDR compiles. These include: #1 HDI #2 Inequality-adjusted HDI #3 Gender Development Index #4 Gender Inequality Index #5 Multidimensional Poverty Index #6 Planetary pressures-adjusted Human Development Index Let’s look at how India is placed on each of these metrics. For perspective on India’s performance and standing, it makes sense to look at China (ranked 79th), Switzerland (ranked first) as well as the world average. #1 Human Development Index India is ranked 132 out of 191 countries. India’s score of 0.633 is not only a long way away from the top-ranking scores — Switzerland is ranked 1 with a score of 0.962 — but also below the global average. As Table 1 details, India has a long way to go on all parameters. 
Table 2 maps the average annual growth in the HDI score (in percentage terms). Looking at the growth rate tells a broader story. 2010 to 2021 hasn’t been such a great period of improvement. The high-growth period — 2000 to 2010 — also corresponds to the high economic growth phase. But from India’s perspective, it is important to note how rapidly China improved its HDI score every year since 1990. 
#2 Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI) It is one thing to look at the overall life expectancy or mean years of schooling or per capita income in India. But what about the inequality in the country? The IHDI value can be interpreted as the level of human development when inequality is accounted for. The IHDI “looks beyond the average achievements of a country in longevity, education and income to show how these achievements are distributed among its residents,” state the HDR. Table 3 details not just the income inequality in India but also looks at how much of India’s HDI falls if one were to adjust or correct it for the inequality in the country. The relative difference between IHDI and HDI values is the loss due to inequality in the distribution of the HDI within the country. 
India’s HDI falls by 25% — the most among the countries mentioned in the Table — when adjusted for inequality. That’s because the share of income held by the richest 1% of the population is more than the income held by the poorest 40%. Neither China nor Switzerland are as unequal. #3 Gender Development Index (GDI) What if one was to look at HDI values (that is, the values of its different components) by gender? The GDI essentially estimates HDI values for women and men and then looks at the ratio. The closer this ratio is to 1, the smaller the gender gap between women and men in HDI terms. That India is behind Switzerland is hardly surprising but the more worrisome insight is that India is significantly behind the world average as well (see Table 4). As China’s GDI — which is higher than Switzerland’s — shows that being relatively low on overall per capita income does not bar a country from plugging the gender gap. 
From India’s perspective, the key HDI metric where women seem to lag behind men the most is the income per capita. #4 Gender Inequality Index (GII) The GDI uses HDI sub-components to look at the gender gap. The GII looks at the issue of gender inequality by preparing a composite measure using three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market. The reproductive health indicators are maternal mortality ratio and adolescent birth rate. The empowerment indicators are the percentage of parliamentary seats held by women and the percentage of the population with at least some secondary education by gender. The labour market indicator is participation in the labour force by gender. The key thing to remember is that a low GII value indicates low inequality between women and men, and vice-versa. As Table 5 shows how India stands on GII and its sub-components. As is visible, India is quite unequal for its female citizens. 
#5 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) The Multidimensional Poverty Index captures the multiple deprivations that people in developing countries face in their health, education and standard of living. Table 6 gives the details on how these non-income deprivations are arrived at. For instance, when assessing the standard of living, one has to look at things like the availability of electricity or drinking water or sanitation etc. 
Table 7 summarises the key metrics of MPI. 
Population in severe multidimensional poverty refers to the percentage of the population with a deprivation score of 50 per cent or more. Similarly, “population vulnerable to multidimensional poverty” refers to the percentage of the population at risk of suffering multiple deprivations— that is, those with a deprivation score of 20–33 per cent. Lastly, the table also compiles the percentage of the population living at less than $1.9 per day (in purchasing power parity terms). What the data reveals is that even in percentage terms, India is far worse off than some of the comparable countries. Moreover, since India has the world’s second-largest population, a high percentage of those with deprivation implies quite high numbers. According to UNDP’s estimates, as of 2019, India had more than 381 million who were suffering from multi-dimensional poverty. China, for reference, has just 54 million. #6 Planetary pressures-adjusted Human Development Index (PHDI) Planetary pressures-adjusted Human Development Index, adjusts the HDI for planetary pressures in the Anthropocene to reflect a concern for intergenerational inequality — similar to the Inequality-adjusted HDI adjustment — which is motivated by a concern for intragenerational inequality. The PHDI value can be interpreted as the level of human development adjusted by carbon dioxide emissions per person (production-based) and material footprint per person to account for excessive human pressure on the planet. What the data shows (see Table 8) is that India’s PHDI is much closer to the PHDIs of other countries. That’s because India’s PHDI falls far less (vis a vis India’s HDI) than other countries. This shows that if the HDI scores of some of the richer countries and countries with better HDI ranks were adjusted or corrected for the amount of per capita carbon emissions they will show a far less stellar success in human development. 
That’s a summary of the various human development indices mentioned compiled by HDR 2022. Share your views and queries at udit.misra@expressindia.com. Last year, India lost the lives of 425 people each day. So if you haven’t watched the latest episode of The Express Economist then click here to watch Kavi Bhalla, a professor at the University of Chicago and an expert on road safety, explain what India needs to do to deal with its killer roads. Till then stay safe, Udit If you received this newsletter as a forward, you can subscribe to it, here. Do read our other Explained articles, here | To subscribe to our other newsletters, click here | 
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