After a drop in its Human Development Index (HDI) value in 2021 and following a flat trend over the past few years, India’s HDI value has increased to 0.644 in 2022, placing the country 134 out of 193 countries and territories in the just released 2023/24 Human Development Report (HDR) titled, “Breaking the Gridlock: Reimagining Cooperation in a Polarized World."

In 2022, India saw improvements across all HDI indicators – life expectancy, education, and Gross National Income (GNI) per capita. Life expectancy rose from 67.2 to 67.7 years, expected years of schooling reached 12.6, mean years of schooling increased to 6.57, and GNI per capita saw an increase from $6,542 to $6,951.

The 2023-2024 HDR builds on the 2021–2022 Human Development Report findings, which saw the global HDI value fall for the first time—two years in a row. This report reveals that human development recovery is uneven in nature. While wealthy countries are showing signs of robust recovery, the poorest are struggling. All the member countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have surpassed their 2019 HDI level. But among least developed countries, only one in two have recovered their already low pre-crisis HDI levels.