Planetary Pressures-adjusted HDI
The Planetary pressures-adjusted Human Development Index (PHDI) is an experimental metric that adjusts the Human Development Index (HDI) for planetary pressures.
Key Points for UPSC Prelims
- This index is similar to the Inequality-adjusted HDI adjustment, previously introduced by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
- It is the level of human development adjusted by carbon dioxide emissions per person and material footprint per capita.
- Ideally, where there are no pressures on the planet, the PHDI equals the HDI. However, all countries of the world have substantial pressure on their part.
- If this new metric is taken into account, Ireland tops the list while India moves 8 positions up from the HDI rank of 131.
Human Development Index 2020
Recently, UNDP has released the Human Development Index 2020 which measures the performances of the countries on the basic scales of human development – life expectancy, education, and per capita income.
Human Development Index 2020 has been topped by Norway. The Index covered 189 countries. Norway is followed by Ireland, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Iceland to rank 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th respectively.
India has been ranked 131st on the index. The HDI value of India as per the index is 0.645 for 2019. As per the report, the HDI value of India has increased by 50.3 percent from the year 1990. The Life expectancy for Indians at birth was 69.7 years in the year 2019.
Human Development Index
The Human Development Index was started in the year 1990 by a Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq and Indian Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen to measure the performance of countries on the economic and social dimensions. Later, it was used by UNDP to provide rankings to the countries on the basis of their performance. Since then the index is released annually.