Major Global Indices and Rankings Relevant to India

Global indices and rankings provide standardized benchmarks to evaluate national progress across economic growth, human development, environmental sustainability, and governance quality. International organizations and think tanks publish these reports periodically using specific methodologies and indicators. Tracking these frameworks helps evaluate policy outcomes, structural reforms, and comparative performance against global benchmarks.

Key Social and Human Development Indices

Human Development Index (HDI)

Published annually by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its Human Development Report, the index measures human progress beyond monetary income. The framework relies on three dimensions and four key indicators:

• Health Dimension: Measured by life expectancy at birth.
• Education Dimension: Measured by expected years of schooling for children and mean years of schooling for adults aged 25 years and older.
• Standard of Living Dimension: Measured by Gross National Income (GNI) per capita on a Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) basis.

Global Gender Gap Index

Published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) since 2006, this index tracks gender-based disparities across nations. Scores range from 0 (complete inequality) to 1 (complete equality). Assessment covers four dimensions:

• Economic Participation and Opportunity: Tracks wage equality, labor force participation rates, and female presence in technical or senior roles.
• Educational Attainment: Evaluates literacy rates and enrollment ratios across primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.
• Health and Survival: Analyzes sex ratios at birth and healthy life expectancy.
• Political Empowerment: Assesses the ratio of women in ministerial positions and parliamentary seats.

Global Hunger Index (GHI)

Jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe, the GHI measures hunger at global, regional, and national levels. Scores are calculated on a 100-point scale, where 0 represents no hunger and 100 indicates severe hunger. The index uses four indicators:

• Undernourishment: Proportion of the population with insufficient caloric intake.
• Child Stunting: Percentage of children under five years with low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition.
• Child Wasting: Percentage of children under five years with low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition.
• Child Mortality: Mortality rate of children under five years, reflecting fatal combinations of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments.

Economic, Governance, and Business Indices

Global Innovation Index (GII)

Published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the GII tracks innovation performance across economies. The model uses two sub-indices across seven operational pillars:

• Innovation Input Sub-Index: Measures elements of the economy that enable innovative activities, categorized under Institutions, Human Capital and Research, Infrastructure, Market Sophistication, and Business Sophistication.
• Innovation Output Sub-Index: Captures actual results of innovation, categorized under Knowledge and Technology Outputs, and Creative Outputs.

Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)

Published by Transparency International, the CPI measures perceived levels of public sector corruption based on expert assessments and surveys. The index uses a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 indicates high corruption and 100 indicates high cleanliness.

Logistics Performance Index (LPI)

Published by the World Bank, the LPI assesses trade logistics efficiency across member nations. The evaluation covers six core dimensions:

• Customs clearance efficiency.
• Quality of trade and transport infrastructure.
• Ease of arranging competitively priced shipments.
• Competence and quality of logistics services.
• Ability to track and trace consignments.
• Timeliness of shipments reaching their destination.

Environmental and Freedom Rankings

Environmental Performance Index (EPI)

Published biennially by the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy and Columbia University, the EPI ranks countries on climate performance, environmental health, and ecosystem vitality. It aggregates indicators across categories including air quality, sanitation, water resources, biodiversity, habitat protection, and greenhouse gas emissions.

World Press Freedom Index

Published annually by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the index evaluates the freedom available to journalists and media outlets across countries. The framework assesses five contextual categories:

• Political context.
• Legal framework.
• Economic context.
• Sociocultural context.
• Safety of journalists.

Overview of Major Global Indices and Publishers

Important Facts and Trivia

• The Human Development Index was created in 1990 by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq and Indian economist Amartya Sen.
• UNDP calculates the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) alongside HDI to account for internal distribution losses across health, education, and income.
• The Global Gender Gap Index measures parity levels rather than absolute capability levels, scoring relative gaps between men and women.
• The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) assesses poverty at the household level across ten indicators grouped under health, education, and standard of living.
• WIPO classifies economies in the Global Innovation Index into income groups, recognizing nations that perform above expectations relative to their GDP per capita as innovation achievers.
• World Bank replaced its annual Doing Business Report with the Business Ready (B-READY) framework to assess the business and investment climate.
• Transparency International requires a minimum of three data sources to score a country in the Corruption Perceptions Index.
• The Press Freedom Index uses two main scoring components: a quantitative tally of abuses against journalists and a qualitative analysis based on expert responses to a standardized questionnaire.