Reports and Indices Current Affairs MCQs

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The 2025 Human Development Report (HDR) by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ranked India 130th out of 193 countries and territories. The report uses the Human Development Index (HDI), which measures health, education, and income, not just economic growth. The 2025 HDR, titled “A Matter of Choice: People and Possibilities in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI),” focused on the impact of AI on human progress. India’s HDI value rose from 0.676 in 2022 to 0.685 in 2023, staying in the medium category but nearing high development. India’s life expectancy increased to 72 years and schooling years also improved. India’s per capita Gross National Income (GNI) rose from 6,951 to 9,047 based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP 2021). India showed over 53 percent HDI growth since 1990, outpacing global and South Asian averages. Among neighbours, China, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan ranked higher, while Nepal, Myanmar, and Pakistan ranked lower.

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In 2024, India lost 18,200 hectares of primary forest, up from 17,700 hectares in 2023, as per Global Forest Watch (GFW) report. Global Forest Watch (GFW) is released by the World Resources Institute (WRI). It’s an open-source web application that monitors global forests in near real-time using satellite data and other sources. Between 2002 and 2024, India lost 3,48,000 hectares of humid primary forest, about 5.4% of its total, making up 15% of all tree cover loss. Humid primary forests are mature tropical forests identified using Landsat satellite images and special algorithms. From 2019 to 2024, India lost 1,03,000 hectares of such forests, or 1.6% of what remained, causing 14% of total tree cover loss. Since 2001, India has lost 2.31 million hectares of tree cover, a 7.1% drop, releasing 1.29 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. Assam saw the highest tree cover loss (3,40,000 ha), followed by Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, and Meghalaya.

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The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) recently released the Global Assessment Report (GAR) 2025 titled “Resilience Pays: Financing and Investing for our Future.” The report shows how risk-aware investments can lower debt, reduce uninsurable losses, and ease rising humanitarian needs. Disaster costs now exceed US2.3 trillion annually, with most losses uninsured, even in developed countries. In India, Cyclone Fani in 2019 caused about US1.2 billion in damage to Odisha’s power infrastructure. India has seen 10 to 30 million internal displacements due to climate-related disasters. Changing weather could reduce India’s living standards by 9% by 2050. India’s disaster insurance coverage is still below 1%, limiting financial protection.

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The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2025 ranks countries based on their efforts to combat climate change. The top three positions are left unfilled, showing that no country is fully on track. Denmark holds the 4th position with very high performance in renewable energy, high in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate policy, and medium in energy use. India ranks 10th. India scores high in GHG emissions and energy use, medium in climate policy, and low in renewable energy.

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The World Wealth Report 2025, released by Capgemini Research Institute, shows India had 378,810 millionaires in 2024 with total wealth of $1.5 trillion. India’s high-net-worth individual (HNWI) wealth rose by 8.8 percent, with strong gains in the “millionaires next door” segment. India had 333,340 millionaires next door and 4,290 ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) in 2024. The report covers 71 countries and highlights U.S. leadership in wealth growth, while India and Japan led in Asia-Pacific.

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The Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report 2024-25 was released by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Global Education Monitoring Report 2024–25 shows that gender gaps in education still exist across the world, including India. Globally, boys lag behind girls in reading, with only 87 boys reaching minimum proficiency for every 100 girls. In middle-income countries, the gap is wider, with just 72 boys achieving reading standards for every 100 girls. Women are still under-represented in educational leadership roles, especially in India. The report stresses that urgent action is needed to close gender gaps in learning outcomes and leadership.

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The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently released the 2025 Review of the State of World Marine Fishery Resources. The report highlights that deep-sea species are hard to manage due to their slow growth, late maturity, long lifespans, low natural death rates, and rare spawning. Only 29% of deep-sea fish stocks are being fished sustainably, making them highly vulnerable. It raises concern over overfishing and Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. Globally, 64.5% of all fishery stocks are within sustainable levels, but 35.5% are overfished.

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The World Bank released the State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2025 as carbon pricing now covers 28% of global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and raises over $100 billion in revenue. Carbon pricing attaches a cost to emitting GHGs to encourage emission reductions and reflect environmental costs. There are 80 active carbon pricing instruments, up from 5 in 2005, including Emissions Trading Systems (ETS), carbon taxes, and carbon credit markets. India introduced ETS rules in 2024 for its industrial sector, using rate-based benchmarks instead of emission caps.

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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.