Human Development Report 2025

Introduction

• Title of Report: “A matter of choice People and possibilities in the age of AI”
• Director and lead author: Pedro Conceicao
• Co-Chairs: Laura Chinchilla (Former President of Costa Rica) and A. Michael Spence
• Released by: It is an annual publication released by the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP).
• Launch Year: 1990
• Objective: To place people at the center of development, going beyond traditional
income metrics to assess the overall well-being of populations.

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 Methodology
• The HDR measures development by combining three dimensions- Health, Education and Standard of
Living– converted into a composite human development index, the HDI, expressed as a value between 0
and 1.

• Health component: It is measured by the life expectancy at birth component of the HDI and is calculated
using a minimum value of 20 years and maximum value of 83.57 years.

• Education component of the HDI: It is now (since HDR-2010) measured by two other indicators. The
education index is the geometric mean of above two indices.
 Mean years of schooling (for adults aged 25 years): This is estimated based on educational
attainment data from censuses and surveys available in the UNESCO Institute for Statistics database
and Barro and Lee (2010) methodology.
 Expected years of schooling (for children of school entering age): These estimates are based on
enrolment by age at all levels of education and population.

• Standard of Living component: It is measured by GNI (Gross National Income/Product) per capita at
‘Purchasing Power Parity in US Dollars’ (PPP $) instead of GDP per capita (PPP $) of past.
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 Classification of Countries

 Classification of Countries: As per their achievements the countries were broadly

classified into four categories with a range of points on the index:
1. Very High Human Development Countries: 0.800–1.000 points on the index.
2. High Human Development Countries: 0.700–0.799 points on the index.
3. Medium Human Development Countries: 0.550–0.699 points on the index.
4. Low Human Development Countries: 0.000–0.550 points on the index.

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 Global Highlights

Top 5 Countries:

Very High Human Country

Development
1 Iceland (0.972)
2 Norway
3 Switzerland
4 Denmark
5 Germany

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 Global Highlights

Bottom-5 Countries:

Low Human Development Country

188 Niger & Mali
190 Chad
191 Central Africa Republic
192 Somalia
193 South Sudan (0.388)

Global Average HDI Value is 0.756

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 India Highlights
• India’s HDI value has increased to 0.685 in 2023, placing the country 130 out of 193
countries and territories. (India’s rank was 133/193 countries in 2022 HDI).

• The country remains in the "medium human development" category, though it is

approaching the threshold for "high human development" (HDI ≥ 0.700).

• INDIA HDI Sub-component Trends:

• In 2023, India saw improvements across all HDI indicators–life expectancy,
education, and Gross National Income (GNI) per capita.
 Life expectancy rose from 67.7 years to 72.
 Expected years of schooling reached 13.
 Mean years of schooling increased to 6.9, and
 GNI per capita increased to $9047.

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 India Highlights
Regional Comparison: Among India’s neighbors, China (78th), Sri Lanka (89th), and Bhutan (125th) rank above
India, while Bangladesh (130th) is on par. Nepal (145th), Myanmar (150th), and Pakistan (168th) are ranked below
India.

AI Skills Growth: India is emerging as a global AI leader with the highest self-reported AI skills
penetration- 20% of Indian AI researchers now remain in the country, a significant rise from nearly zero in 2019.

Gender Inequality Index Trends:

• India has also shown progress in reducing gender inequality and ranks 102 in the GII 2023.

• The country's GII value of 0.403 is better than the global average of 0.455 and the South Asian average of 0.458.

• India’s performance in reproductive health is better than other countries in the medium human development
group or South Asia.

• India's adolescent birth rate in 2023 was 14.1 (births per 1,000 women ages 15-19).

• However, India also has one of the largest gender gaps in the labour force participation rate—a 41.3%
difference between women (35.1%) and men (76.4%).
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Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index:
• It adjusts the Human Development Index (HDI) for inequality in the distribution of each dimension
across the population.
• India’s inequality-adjusted HDI value is 0.475.
• India's loss in HDI due to inequality is 30.7 percent. [previously 31.1 percent].
• After adjusting inequality, still Iceland rank 1 with HDI value of 0.923.

Gender Development Index:

• The GDI essentially estimates HDI values for women and men and then looks at the ratio. The closer
this ratio is to 1, the smaller the gender gap between women and men in HDI terms.
• Iceland has topped the Gender Development Index.
• India’s Gender Development Index value for 2023 stands at 0.874.
• From India’s perspective, the key HDI metric where women seem to lag behind men the most is the
income per capita.

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Planetary Pressures-adjusted Human Development Index (HDI)
• Planetary pressures-adjusted Human Development Index, adjusts the HDI for planetary pressures in the
Anthropocene to reflect a concern for intergenerational inequality — similar to the Inequality-adjusted HDI
adjustment — which is motivated by a concern for intragenerational inequality.

• The PHDI value can be interpreted as the level of human development adjusted by carbon dioxide
emissions per person (production-based) and material footprint per person to account for excessive
human pressure on the planet.

• India’s PHDI value stands at 0.656.

Multidimensional Poverty Index: Developing Countries:

• India’s value is 0.069 and India’s 16.4% of the population living in multidimensional poverty.

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 AI and Human Development
• AI is like electricity—a general-purpose technology transforming all sectors, from health to
education. For example, AI chatbots help students learn languages or math in remote areas.

• A “complementarity economy” uses AI to augment human work. For instance, radiologists

use AI for faster image analysis, but their expertise remains vital.

• Youth benefit when AI offers personalized education—but overuse of digital tech is also linked
to declining mental health, especially among girls.

• Widening inequality is a concern: high-income countries have more access to AI tools, while
low-income regions struggle with digital infrastructure and skills

• Policy and vision matter. Countries that use AI to build skills, promote inclusion, and drive
innovation can turn AI into a force for sustainable, people-centered development.

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 Why is India’s HDI rank low?

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 H.W

Q. According to the Human Development Report 2025, what is India's Human

Development Index (HDI) value and global rank?
A) 0.645 and Rank 142
B) 0.690 and Rank 128
C) 0.685 and Rank 130
D) 0.701 and Rank 115
E) 0.663 and Rank 136

Answer:

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 Thank You..!!

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