Reports and Indices Current Affairs MCQs

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The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released its 2025 State of World Population (SOWP) Report titled ‘The Real Fertility Crisis’. It highlights that one in three adult Indians face unintended pregnancies. It also states that 30% of Indians experience unfulfilled desires to have more or fewer children. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) was created to support population and reproductive health programmes. Its mission is to ensure every pregnancy is wanted, childbirth is safe, and youth potential is fulfilled.

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India ranked 131 out of 148 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report 2025 released by the World Economic Forum (WEF), slipping two places from 129 in 2024. The Global Gender Gap Index measures gender parity in Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment. India scored 64.1% in overall gender parity, among the lowest in South Asia.

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The Global Drought Outlook 2025 was recently released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It warns that 40% of the world’s land area now faces more frequent and severe drought. Recent major droughts occurred in Europe (2022), California (2021), and the Horn of Africa including Somalia. The economic cost of an average drought is rising by 3% to 7.5% annually. Countries like India and Australia may face disruptions in hydroelectric power generation due to water shortages.

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India ranked 71st in the World Economic Forum (WEF) Energy Transition Index 2025, showing improvement in energy efficiency and investment capacity. The index assessed 118 countries, with Sweden ranked first, followed by Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Switzerland. China ranked 12th, the United States (US) 17th, and Pakistan 101st, while Congo was the lowest. India’s rank dropped from 63rd in 2024, but WEF said India showed one of the strongest improvements among large economies.

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A record 54 Indian Institutes have been listed in the QS World University Rankings 2026, showing strong global progress in higher education. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi has emerged as the top-ranked Indian institute, jumping from 150th to 123rd position globally. This is the highest QS World University Ranking ever achieved by IIT Delhi. The QS rankings are based on data from over 16 million academic papers and feedback from 151,000 academics and 100,000 employers. They assess faculty quality, research strength, global partnerships, and student success.

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According to the recently released Global Liveability Index 2025 by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the global average liveability score remained 76.1 out of 100, the same as last year. Copenhagen became the world’s most liveable city in 2025, ending Vienna’s three-year lead by scoring perfectly in stability, education, and infrastructure. Damascus continued to be the least liveable city globally. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) assessed 173 cities using 30 indicators grouped into factors like stability, healthcare, culture, environment, education, and infrastructure. The index shows how comfortable and liveable each city is for its residents.

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The Global Peace Index (GPI) 2025 by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) shows a 0.36 per cent drop in global peacefulness due to rising geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty. This marks the worst global peace level deterioration since World War II. India ranks 115th with a GPI score of 2.229, improving by 0.58 per cent from last year. India’s ranking has improved steadily from 141 in 2019 to 115 in 2025. India showed improvement in nine peace indicators, while nine remained the same and three worsened. Iceland remains the most peaceful country since 2008.

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Recently, NITI Aayog released the third edition of its quarterly insights series, Future Front, titled India’s Data Imperative: The Pivot Towards Quality, in New Delhi. The report highlights the urgent need to improve data quality for stronger digital governance, better public trust, and efficient service delivery. It discusses the major issues caused by poor data quality and suggests simple and practical tools to improve it.

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The Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2025 reported a record 1,523 unicorns, which are privately held startup companies valued over 1 billion. This marks an increase of 70 unicorns compared to last year, with a total combined valuation of 5.6 trillion. The United States of America leads with 758 unicorns, including 55 new ones, and has six of the ten most valuable unicorns. China holds second place with 343 unicorns. India ranks third with 64 unicorns, with Bengaluru at rank 7 globally, Mumbai at 22, and Gurugram debuting at 27.

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Recently, the National Statistics Office, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, released the “Statistical Report on Value of Output from Agriculture and Allied Sectors (2011–12 to 2023–24)” on its website. The report covers Crop, Livestock, Forestry and Logging, Fishing and Aquaculture data at current and constant prices. Gross Value Added of agriculture rose by 225% from ₹1,502 thousand crore in 2011-12 to ₹4,878 thousand crore in 2023-24. Gross Value of Output grew 54.6% at constant prices from ₹1,908 thousand crore to ₹2,949 thousand crore in this period. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Telangana, and Haryana contributed 53% of cereals GVO.