Reports and Indices Current Affairs MCQs

Notes:
On July 15, 2025, World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that South Asia achieved its highest-ever child immunization coverage in 2024.. India reduced zero-dose children (no vaccine received) by 43%, from 1.6 million in 2023 to 0.9 million in 2024. Nepal cut zero-dose children by 52%, from 23,000 to 11,000. Pakistan achieved its highest Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis third-dose (DTP3) coverage at 87%. Afghanistan recorded the lowest regional coverage with a 1% drop.

Notes:
Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai improved their ranks in the QS Best Student Cities 2026 released by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). Seoul, Tokyo and London are the top three globally. Delhi ranked 104th, climbing 7 spots, and emerged as the world’s most affordable student city. India saw 390% rise in universities featured in QS rankings in 10 years.

Notes:
The United Nations has released the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Report 2025. Five key goals — SDG2 (Zero Hunger), SDG4 (Quality Education), SDG6 (Clean Water), SDG8 (Decent Work), and SDG10 (Reduced Inequalities) — are worst hit, with 50–57% of targets off-track. Global hunger affects 713–757 million people, worsened by conflict, climate change, and economic shocks. Food insecurity affected 2.33 billion people in 2023 — 383 million more than in 2019. SDG8 sees half of its indicators declining, with 57.8% of global workforce in informal jobs and youth unemployment at 12.9%. SDG14 (Life Below Water) is least funded and shows 40% decline in key targets. SDG3 (Good Health) shows stagnation in maternal health and universal coverage, with post-COVID strain persisting.

Notes:
On July 17, 2025, the Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 awards were announced by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Indore retained its top spot as the cleanest city for the 8th time in a row under the ‘Super Swachh League’ category. Surat and Navi Mumbai secured the second and third ranks respectively in the same category. In the new ‘Swachh Shahar’ category for cities with over 10 lakh population, Ahmedabad ranked first, followed by Bhopal and Lucknow. Noida was ranked cleanest among cities with 3 to 10 lakh population, followed by Chandigarh and Mysore.

Notes:
The World Bank recently released the ‘Global Findex 2025’ report highlighting global progress in digital and financial inclusion. India’s account ownership stands at or near 90 percent, showing major financial inclusion gains. However, 16 percent of Indian account holders have inactive accounts, compared to 4 percent in other low- and middle-income countries. Between 2021 and 2024, the number of men and women with only inactive accounts in India declined. High device cost and poor mobile network coverage remain key barriers to mobile phone ownership in India.

Notes:
Recently, the Numbeo Safety Index 2025 ranked India at 67th with a safety score of 55.8. The Numbeo Safety Index is a real-time, user-based global ranking that reflects how safe people feel in their own countries. It considers factors like crime fear, crime incidents, and overall public safety perceptions. In 2025, the index covered 146 countries worldwide. Top countries in safety include Andorra (84.7), United Arab Emirates–UAE (84.5), Qatar (84.2), Taiwan (82.9), and Oman (81.7). These countries maintain high safety through strong law enforcement, political stability, and safety policies.

Notes:
The ‘State of Food and Nutrition in the World’ (SOFI) 2025 report was released by the United Nations on July 28, 2025. In 2024, 720 million people (8.2% of global population) were affected by hunger. Around 2.3 billion people faced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2024. Hunger levels slightly improved from 8.5% in 2023 and 8.7% in 2022, but progress remained uneven. Asia had the most undernourished people (323 million), followed by Africa (307 million), and Latin America & the Caribbean (34 million). By 2030, 512 million people (6% of the global population) may remain chronically undernourished. It tracks global hunger, food security, and nutrition progress under SDG targets 2.1 and 2.2.

Notes:
The National Annual Report & Index on Women’s Safety (NARI) 2025 was released by the National Commission for Women (NCW). The survey covered 12,770 women across 31 cities in India. The national safety score is 65%, meaning 40% of women feel unsafe despite government assurances. 60% of women reported feeling safe, while younger women under 24 reported harassment at 14%, double the national average. Kohima, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Aizawl, Gangtok, Itanagar and Mumbai are the safest cities. Patna, Jaipur, Faridabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Srinagar and Ranchi are the least safe cities. The report frames women’s safety as a developmental issue, encompassing physical, psychological, financial, and digital security.

Notes:
The ‘Solar PV Potential Assessment of India (Ground-Mounted)’ report was launched by the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) under the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE). The report provides a policy-linked, investment-ready framework to guide project siting, infrastructure development, and private sector participation in solar energy. India has crossed 250 GW of non-fossil fuel installed capacity and aims for 500 GW by 2030, energy independence by 2047, and net-zero emissions by 2070. It provides a policy-linked, investment-ready framework for project siting, infrastructure, and private sector participation.

Notes:
Recently, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released the Environmental Accounting on Forest 2025 Report on 25th September 2025 during the 29th Conference of Central and State Statistical Organizations (CoCSSO) in Chandigarh. From 2010-11 to 2021-22, forest cover increased by 17,444.61 sq. km, reaching 7.15 lakh sq. km (21.76% of India’s area). Major gains were recorded in Kerala with 4,137 sq. km, Karnataka with 3,122 sq. km and Tamil Nadu with 2,606 sq. km. Between 2013 and 2023, forest extent increased by 3,356 sq. km mainly due to reclassification and boundary adjustments. The highest rise in Recorded Forest Area share was in Uttarakhand with 6.3%, Odisha with 1.97% and Jharkhand with 1.9%. Provisioning services value grew from ₹30.72 to ₹37.93 thousand crore between 2011-12 and 2021-22 which is about 0.16% of GDP.