Inclusive Development Index

Why in news?

Inclusive Development Index was released recently by the World Economic Forum.

What is the Inclusive Development Index?

The IDI has been developed by the WEF as a new metric of national economic performance.
It is seen as an alternative to GDP.
The Index on inclusiveness reflects more closely the criteria by which the people evaluate their countries’ economic progress.
The index has three pillars of growth for global economies namely:

Accordingly, the parameters focus on the living standards of people and future-proofing of economies by the WEF.
In the recent index, Norway tops the chart followed by Iceland and Luxemburg in advanced economies.
Lithuania, Hungary, and Azerbaijan are the toppers among the emerging economies.

How is India's inclusivity?

India has been ranked 62 out of 74 emerging economies.
There has roughly been 2.3% improvement in the overall five-year trend of the IDI for India.
However, despite this, India is ranked below the neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
Evidently, Pakistan has been ranked 47, Sri Lanka 40, and Nepal 22.
Among G20 economies, India ranks second last.
This is ahead of only South Africa and trails behind Russia (19), China (26) and Brazil (37).
Other South Asian economies such as Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines also ranked far better than India.

What are the other key findings?

India performs best (44th) in terms of Intergenerational Equity and Sustainability.
This is primarily a result of low dependency ratio, with higher young population.
Both labour productivity and GDP per capita posted strong growth rates over the past five years.
However, employment growth has slowed.
It is highlighted that the incidence of poverty had declined in India over the past five years.
However, six out of 10 Indians still live on less than $3.20 per day.
Healthy life expectancy also increased by approximately three years to 59.6.

Source: BusinessLine