Summary of Indices and Reports (2020-21) | 26 Sep 2021

Children’s Climate Risk Index

  • Released By:
  • About the Index:
    • It is the first comprehensive analysis of climate risk from a child’s perspective.
    • It ranks countries based on children’s exposure to climate and environmental shocks, such as Cyclones and Heatwaves, as well as their vulnerability to those shocks, based on their access to essential services.
    • Pakistan (14th), Bangladesh (15th), Afghanistan (25th) and India (26th) are among four South Asian countries where children are at extremely high risk of the impacts of the climate crisis.

Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2021

  • Released By:
  • About the Report:
    • The report presents comprehensive economic, financial, social and environmental statistics for ADB’s 49 regional members.
    • It demonstrated that the region made substantial progress in the last two decades with respect to several development targets.

Global Manufacturing Risk Index 2021

  • Released By:
    • A US-based property consultant Cushman & Wakefield.
  • About the Index:
    • It assesses the most advantageous locations for global manufacturing among 47 countries in Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific (APAC).
    • Four key parameters of rankings:
      • Country’s capability to restart manufacturing,
      • Business environment (availability of talent/labour, access to markets),
      • Operating costs,
      • Risks (political, economic and environmental).
    • India has overtaken the US to become the second-most sought-after manufacturing destination globally.
      • In the 2020 report, the US was at second position while India ranked third.

Hunger Hotspots Report

  • Released By:
  • About the Report:
    • Major Hunger Hotspots of the world include Ethiopia, Madagascar, South Sudan, northern Nigeria and Yemen.
    • Considers frequent violent attacks, natural hazards, pandemic shocks and poor humanitarian access as the key factors causing food insecurity.

Global Cybersecurity Index 2020

  • Released By:
  • About the Index:
    • The assessment is based on the aggregated performance of five parameters of cybersecurity; Legal measures, technical measures, organisational measures, capacity development, and cooperation.
    • The US ranked 1st followed by the UK and Saudi Arabia tied on the 2nd position and Estonia was 3rd.
    • India has ranked 10th in the index by moving up 37 places.
      • India secured the 4th position in the Asia Pacific region.

World Competitiveness Index 2021

  • Released By:
    • First published in 1989 and is compiled by the Institute for Management Development (IMD), Lausanne, Switzerland.
  • About the Index:
    • It measures the prosperity and competitiveness of countries by examining four factors:
      • Economic performance
      • Government efficiency
      • Business efficiency
      • Infrastructure
    • Switzerland (1st), Sweden (2nd) and Denmark (3rd) are the top performers.
      • The top-performing Asian economies are Singapore (5th), Hong Kong (7th), Taiwan (8th) and China (16th).
    • India maintained its 43rd rank.
      • Among the BRICS nations, India ranked second (43rd) after China (16th).

Global Liveability Index

  • Released By:
    • Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)
  • About the Index:
    • The index takes into account more than 30 qualitative and quantitative factors spanning five broad categories: stability (25%), healthcare (20%), culture and environment (25%), education (10%), and infrastructure (20%).
    • Top 3 Liveable Cities:
      • Auckland (New Zealand), Osaka (Japan), Adelaide (Australia).
    • Bottom 3 Liveable Cities:
      • Damascus (Syria), Lagos (Nigeria), Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea).

Global Economic Prospects

  • Released By:
  • About the Report:
    • The world economy is expected to witness the fastest post-recession growth rate in eighty years.
    • India's economy is expected to grow at 8.3% for Fiscal Year 2021-22, 7.5% for 2022-23 and 6.5% for 2023-24.

Report On Global Remittances

  • Released By:
  • About the Report:
    • A remittance is money sent to another party, usually one in another country.
      • Remittances represent one of the largest sources of income for people in low-income and developing nations.
    • India is the world’s biggest recipient of remittances followed by China. Remittances bolsters India's foreign exchange reserves and helps fund its current account deficit.
    • Remittance outflow was the maximum from the United States (USD 68 billion), followed by UAE, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Germany, and China.

World Press Freedom Day 2021

  • Organised By:
  • About the Day:
    • The theme for WPFD 2021 is “Information as a Public Good".
    • The day was proclaimed by the UNGA in 1993, following the recommendation of UNESCO’s General Conference in 1991.
      • The day also marks the 1991 Windhoek Declaration adopted by UNESCO which is aimed towards the ‘development of a free, independent and pluralistic press’.

World Press Freedom Index 2021

  • Released By:
    • Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) or Reporters Without Borders.
  • About the Index:
    • It ranks countries and regions according to the level of freedom available to journalists. However it is not an indicator on the quality of journalism.
    • The parameters include
      • Pluralism
      • Media independence
      • Media environment and self-censorship
      • legislative framework
      • Transparency
      • Quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information.
    • Norway has topped for five consecutive years, followed by Finland and Denmark.
      • China is ranked 177, and is only above North Korea at 179 and Turkmenistan at 178.
    • India has ranked 142nd, same as WFPI 2020.

Global Gender Gap Report 2021

  • Released By:
  • About the Report:
    • It aims to serve as a compass to track progress on relative gaps between women and men on health, education, economy and politics.
    • The four parameter for assessing gender parity include:
      • Economic Participation and Opportunity,
      • Educational Attainment,
      • Health and Survival and
      • Political Empowerment.
    • The highest possible score is 1 (equality) and the lowest possible score is 0 (inequality).
    • South Asia incidentally is one of the worst performing regions, followed only by the Middle East and northern Africa.
      • India is now one of the worst performers in South Asia, it is now ranked 140 among 156 countries.

World Happiness Report 2021

  • Released By:
  • About the Report:
    • The World Happiness Report ranks 149 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be.
    • The rankings are based on polling (Gallup World Poll) which looks at six variables:
      • Gross Domestic Product Per Capita (Purchasing Power Parity).
      • Social Support.
      • Healthy life expectancy at birth.
      • Freedom to make life choices.
      • Generosity.
      • Perceptions of corruption.
    • Respondents rate their own current lives on a 0-10 scale.
    • Finland has been ranked as the happiest country in the world for the fourth consecutive year.
      • Afghanistan (149) is the most unhappy country.
    • India has been ranked 139, out of 149 countries evaluated.
  • International Happiness Day:
    • It highlights the importance of happiness in the diurnal lives of people.
    • This resolution was first initiated by Bhutan which emphasised on the importance of national happiness over national income.
    • Theme of 2021: “Happiness For All, Forever”.

Technology And Innovation Report 2021

  • Released By:
  • About the Report:
    • Examines the likelihood of frontier technologies widening existing inequalities and creating new ones.
    • Addresses the national and international policies, instruments and institutional reforms that are needed to create a more equal world of opportunity for all.
    • India was the biggest ‘overperformer’ in frontier technologies than the country's per capita GDP would suggest.
      • India’s actual index ranking is 43, while the estimated one based on per capita income is 108.

Food Waste Index Report 2021

  • Released By:
  • About the Report:
    • Presents the most comprehensive food waste data collection, analysis and modelling to date.
    • Publishes a methodology for countries to measure food waste, at household, food service and retail level, to track national progress towards 2030.
    • Unlike the Food Loss Index, it measures total food waste (rather than loss or waste associated with specific commodities).
    • Developed Countries like Austria produce very low amounts of waste as compared to developing and less developed countries.

Corruption Perception Index

  • Released By:
  • About the Index:
    • The index ranks 180 countries and territories by the perceived level of public sector corruption according to experts and business people.
    • It uses a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
    • The highest scoring countries are Denmark and New Zealand, with scores of 88, followed by Finland, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland, with scores of 85 each.
      • South Sudan and Somalia are the bottom Countries with scores of 12 each.
    • India’s rank is 86th among 180 countries with a score of 40.

Davos Dialogue

  • Released By:
  • About the Agenda:
    • It is WEF’s annual meeting in Davos (Switzerland) that engages the world's top leaders to shape global, regional and industry agendas.
    • It marks the launch of the WEF’s Great Reset Initiative in the post Covid world.

World Food Price Index

  • Released By:
  • About the Index:
    • Helps in monitoring developments in the global agricultural commodity markets.
    • Measures the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities.
      • Measures changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar.
    • Base Period: 2014-16.

Human Development Index

  • Released By:
    • United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
  • About the Index:
    • It emphasizes that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone.
    • Based on three Basic Dimensions:
      • A long and healthy life
      • Access to knowledge
      • A decent standard of living
    • The index forms a part of Human Development Report (HDR) 2020, whose other components include:
      • Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI),
      • Gender Development Index (GDI),
      • Gender Inequality Index (GII) and
      • Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).
    • Norway topped the index, followed by Ireland and Switzerland.
    • In the Asian region; Singapore (11), Saudi Arabia (40) and Malaysia (62) were at the top representing “very high human development".
      • India (131), Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Cambodia, Kenya and Pakistan were ranked among countries with “medium human development".

Climate Change Performance Index

  • Released By:
    • The Germanwatch, the New Climate Institute and the Climate Action Network jointly.
  • About the Index:
    • Independently monitors climate protection performance of 57 countries and the European Union which together generate 90%+ of global GHG emissions.
    • Enables comparison of climate protection efforts and progress made by individual countries.
    • Parameters used:
    • Top three ranks were empty as no country had met the criteria to get placed high enough on the index.
    • Only two G20 nations, the UK and India are among the high rankers in CCPI 2021.
      • USA, Canada, South Korea, Russia, Australia and Saudi Arabia are ranked at the bottom of the index.
      • China, the biggest current emitter of GHG, is ranked at the 33rd position.
    • Overall, India ranked 10th and scored 63.98 points out of 100.
      • India, in its INDC, pledged to increase the share of non-fossil fuels-based electricity to 40% by 2030.

World Economic Outlook

  • Released By:
  • About the Report:
    • Published twice a year in the months of April and October.
    • Analyzes and predicts global economic developments during the near and medium term.

Global Hunger Index 2020

  • Released By:
    • Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe
  • About the Report:
    • Measures and tracks hunger at the global, regional, and country levels.
    • Parameters used:
      • Undernourishment: insufficient caloric intake.
      • Child Wasting
      • Child Stunting
      • Child Mortality: under the age of five.
    • Determines hunger on a 100-point scale where 0 is the best possible score and 100 is the worst.
    • India has a “serious” level of hunger, with a score of 27.2.
      • It ranks 94 out of 107 countries in the Index.
      • India features behind Nepal (73), Pakistan (88), Bangladesh (75), Indonesia (70).

Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report

  • Released By:
  • About the Report:
    • Considers, the “new poor” will:
      • Be more urban poor.
      • Be more engaged in informal services and manufacturing and less in agriculture.
      • Live in congested urban settings and work in the sectors most affected by lockdowns and mobility restrictions.
    • Many of the newly poor individuals will be from Sub-Saharan Africa and the South Asian region.
    • Poverty estimation in India is carried out by NITI Aayog’s task force.

World Risk Index 2020

  • Released By:
    • United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft and the University of Stuttgart in Germany.
  • About the Index:
    • It is part of the World Risk Report 2020.
    • It describes the disaster risk for various countries and regions through the multiplication of exposure and vulnerability.
    • Among continents, Oceania is at the highest risk, followed by Africa and the Americas.
      • Vanuatu (South Pacific Ocean) is the country with the highest disaster risk worldwide.
      • Africa accounts for more than two-thirds of the most vulnerable countries.
    • India has ranked 89th among 181 countries and is fourth-most-at-risk in South Asia, after Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Human Capital Index 2020

  • Released By:
  • About the Index:
    • Human capital consists of the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate over their lives.
    • The index benchmarks key components of human capital across countries.
    • Parameters used: Health and education data of children for 174 countries (up to March 2020; pre-pandemic period).
    • It covers 98% of the world’s population.
    • India is ranked at 116th from among 174 countries.

Global Innovation Index 2020

  • Released By:
  • About the Index:
    • Provides detailed metrics about the innovation performance of 131 countries and economies around the world.
      • Includes political environment, education, infrastructure and business sophistication.
    • 2020 Theme: Who will Finance Innovation?
    • Switzerland, Sweden, the USA, the UK and Netherlands are the top five countries.
    • In Asian economies, China, India, the Philippines and Vietnam have made the most progress on the index.
      • India at the 48th position, ranks among top 50 innovative countries.

State of the Young Child in India Report

  • Released By:
    • Mobile Creches, an NGO
  • About the Report:
    • It measures health, nutrition and cognitive growth of children in the 0-6 years age group
    • The Young Child Outcomes Index (YCOI) and the Young Child Environment Index (YCEI) are parts of the report.
    • Parameters used:
      • Infant mortality rate
      • Stunting
      • Net attendance at the primary school level
    • The overall India score is 0.585 on a scale of 0-1
    • Kerala, Goa, Tripura, Tamil Nadu and Mizoram are among the top five states for the well-being of children.
      • Assam, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have scores below the country’s average.
  • Young Child Environment Index:
    • Helps to understand the policy and environment enablers that influence a child’s well-being.
    • Parameters used:
      • Poverty alleviation
      • Strengthening primary health care
      • Improving education levels
      • Safe water supply
      • Promotion of gender equity
    • Kerala, Goa, Sikkim, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have secured the top five positions.
      • The overall India score is 0.672.

Digital Quality of Life (DQL) Index 2020

  • Released By:
    • SurfShark, an online privacy solutions provider.
  • About the Index:
    • It is a global research on the quality of digital wellbeing in 85 countries (81% of the global population).
    • Parameters used:
      • Internet affordability
      • Internet quality
      • Electronic infrastructure
      • Electronic security
      • Electronic government
    • 7 out of 10 countries with the highest DQL are in Europe, with Denmark leading.
      • Scandinavian countries excel in offering high-quality digital wellbeing to their citizens.
      • Canada leads in American continents, Japan in Asia, South Africa in Africa and News Zealand in Oceania.
    • India stands at the overall rank of 57 out of the 85 countries.

Quality of Life for Elderly Index

  • Released By:
  • About the Index:
    • It identifies the regional patterns of ageing across Indian States and assesses the overall ageing situation in India.
    • Four Pillars: Financial Well-being, Social Well-being, Health System and Income Security
    • Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh are top-scoring regions in Aged and Relatively Aged States, respectively.
      • Chandigarh and Mizoram are top-scoring regions in Union Territory and North-East States category.

Periodic Labour Force Survey 2019-20

  • Released By:
  • About the Survey:
    • An annual survey which has been constituted based on the recommendation of a committee headed by Amitabh Kundu.
    • It maps the state of employment in the country.
    • Collects data on several variables such as:
      • The level of unemployment
      • The types of employment and their respective shares
      • The wages earned from different types of jobs
      • The number of hours worked etc.
    • It estimates employment and unemployment indicators in both usual status and Current Weekly Status (CWS) in both rural and urban areas annually.

AISHE-2020

  • Released By:
    • Department of Higher Education.
  • About the Report:
    • This Report provides key performance indicators on the current status of Higher education in the country.
    • Uttar Pradesh has highest student enrolment in India, it has 49.1% male and 50.9% female students followed by Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

SDG India Index 2020-21

  • Released By:
  • About the Index:
    • Represents the articulation of the comprehensive nature of the Global Goals under the 2030 Agenda.
      • Monitors the country’s progress on the goals through data-driven assessment.
    • Computes goal-wise scores (from 0-100) on the 16 SDGs for each State and Union Territory.
      • States and Union Territories are classified in four categories based on their SDG India Index score: Aspirant (0–49), Performer (50–64), Front-Runner (65–99), Achiever (100).
    • Kerala retained its position at the top for the third time followed by Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh.
      • Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam were the worst performing States.

Ease of Living & Municipal Performance Index 2020

  • Released By:
    • Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
  • About the Municipal Performance Index:
    • It seeks to examine local government practices in municipalities across areas of services, finance, policy, technology and governance.
    • The MPI examined the sectoral performance of 111 municipalities (with Delhi being assessed separately for NDMC, and the three Municipal Corporations).
    • In Million+ category, Indore, Surat and Bhopal are the highest ranked.
      • In the Less than Million category, NDMC, Tirupati and Gandhinagar are top performers.
  • About the Ease of Living Index:
    • It provides a comprehensive understanding of participating cities across India based on quality of life, economic-ability of a city, and its sustainability and resilience.
    • In Million+ Category, the top performers are Bengaluru, Pune and Ahmedabad.
      • Amritsar, Guwahati, Bareilly, Dhanbad and Srinagar are the worst performers.
    • In the Less than Million Category, top performers are Shimla, Bhubaneshwar and Silvassa.
      • Aligarh, Rampur, Namchi, Satna and Muzaffarpur are the worst performers.

India Innovation Index 2020

  • Released By:
  • About the Index:
    • The index has been developed on the lines of the Global Innovation Index (GII)
    • It is developed to ameliorate the innovation ecosystem of Indian states & UTs and to design policies to drive innovation across regions.
    • Parameters used:
      • Patents per million of population
      • Publication in scientific journals
      • Percentage of GDP spending on research
      • Demographic dividend
      • Level and quality of education
    • Among the major states, Karnataka is the top scorer for two consecutive years followed by Maharashtra.
      • Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Bihar scored the lowest.
      • Himachal Pradesh topped the rankings of hill and North-East states
      • Delhi has scored the highest in the country (46.6), while Lakshadweep has the lowest score at 11.7.