Major Global Indices and Rankings Relevant to India

Global indices and rankings offer quick, comparable benchmarks for assessing India’s progress across human development, hunger, happiness, gender parity, peace, environment, competitiveness, innovation, freedom and power. For Prelims revision, the key is to remember the publishing body, India’s rank, and the broad direction of change.

Social and Human Development Indices

• Human Development Index (HDI) 2025: Compiled by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), India ranked 130th out of 193 countries. Its HDI value rose to 0.685 from 0.676, placing it in the medium human development group.
• Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2025: Published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe, India ranked 102nd out of 123 countries with a score of 25.8, which falls in the serious category.
• World Happiness Report 2026: Released by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), India ranked 116th out of 147 countries, improving by two places from 118th in 2025.
• Global Gender Gap Index 2025: Published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), India ranked 131st out of 148 countries, down two places from 129th in 2024.
• Global Peace Index 2026: Compiled by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), India ranked 127th out of 163 countries, slipping from 115th in 2025.

Environmental Governance and Sustainability

• Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2026: Developed by Yale and Columbia Universities, India ranked 176th out of 177 countries, ahead of only Laos.
• Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2026: Issued by Germanwatch, India fell 13 places to rank 23rd, moving into the medium-performing category.
• UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Index 2026: India achieved its highest-ever position at 94th out of 167 countries with a score of 68.3 out of 100.
• Nature Conservation Index (NCI) 2024: In this inaugural index, India ranked 176th out of 180 countries with a score of 45.5 out of 100.

Economic Competitiveness, Skills and Innovation

• Global Innovation Index (GII) 2025: Published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), India ranked 38th out of 139 economies and remained the leading lower-middle-income country.
• IMD World Competitiveness Ranking 2026: India placed 44th out of 70 economies, down three spots from 41st in 2025.
• QS World Future Skills Index 2027: Published in June 2026, India ranked 13th globally with a final score of 89.4.
• International Intellectual Property Index 2026: Released by the US Chamber of Commerce, India ranked 43rd globally.

Security, Freedom and Global Standing

• World Press Freedom Index 2026: Issued by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), India ranked 157th out of 180 countries, six places lower than 151st in 2025.
• Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2025: Published by Transparency International, India ranked 91st out of 182 countries with a score of 39/100, up from 96th in 2024.
• Henley Passport Index (August 2026): India ranked 81st out of 199 passports, offering visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 56 destinations.
• Global Firepower Index 2026: India ranked 4th out of 145 countries on conventional war-making capability.
• Responsible Nations Index (RNI) 2026: Developed by the World Intellectual Foundation, JNU and IIM Mumbai, India ranked 16th out of 154 countries.
• Global Soft Power Index 2026: Published by Brand Finance, India ranked 32nd globally.

Summary Table of Global Indexes

Key Prelims Takeaways

• Hard power vs soft governance: India ranks very high in defence capability, with 4th place in Global Firepower, but performs poorly in several social and governance indicators.
• Gender and peace concerns: India’s low rankings in the Global Gender Gap Index (131st) and Global Peace Index (127th) are important exam points.
• Environmental weakness: India’s positions in the EPI (176th) and NCI (176th) show major environmental gaps despite progress in climate ranking.
• SDG improvement: The 94th rank in the SDG Index is India’s best-ever performance in that index.
• Innovation strength: India remains the top performer among lower-middle-income economies in the Global Innovation Index.
• Skills readiness: India’s 13th rank in the QS Future Skills Index signals strong future-skills potential.
• Freedom and integrity indicators: Poor press freedom ranking and middling corruption ranking are often asked together in Prelims.