India's Global Indices Rankings 2024

Many conflicts started in 2024, causing problems worldwide. People in different countries are facing issues like poverty, hunger, and climate change, which greatly affect their lives. As 2024 ends and we look forward to 2025, let us see how India did in different global rankings announced this year. In this article, we cover everything from poverty levels to happiness scores to see how India measures up.

Global Multidimensional Poverty Index

According to the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2024, around 1.1 billion people out of a total of 6.3 billion are experiencing poverty across 112 countries. The report published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) suggests that the poverty rate in India decreased from 55.1% in 2005-06 to just over 16.4% in 2019-21.

Despite some progress, the problem of poverty remains concentrated in a few countries. India has the largest number of people living in poverty (234 million), even though it has a medium Human Development Index (HDI). The other countries with the highest numbers of people in poverty—Pakistan (93 million), Ethiopia (86 million), Nigeria (74 million), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (66 million)—all have low HDIs, indicating broader developmental challenges. Collectively, these five countries represent nearly half (48.1%) of the total 1.1 billion poor people.

Global Hunger Index

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a key tool used by international aid groups to track and measure hunger in 127 countries. It uses data on undernourishment and child mortality to calculate its scores. In the latest ranking, India has been ranked at 105th place, categorizing it within the “serious” category of the analysis. This places India among 42 countries identified as “serious,” alongside Pakistan and Afghanistan, while neighbouring South Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka have achieved better GHI scores, qualifying them for the “moderate” category.

According to the 2024 GHI, India has a score of 27.3, indicating a serious hunger level. The GHI score for India is derived from four key indicators: 13.7% of the population is undernourished, 35.5% of children under five are stunted, 18.7% of these children are wasted, and 2.9%of children do not survive to their fifth birthday, as highlighted in the report.

World Press Freedom Index

According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which annually ranks press freedom in 180 countries, India's score on the World Press Freedom Index worsened this past year, falling from 36.62 to 31.28. While India's ranking technically improved from 161st in 2023 to 159th in 2024, this was mainly because other countries also declined in the rankings. Norway and Denmark held the top spots for press freedom, while Eritrea was ranked last, followed closely by Syria.

Global Gender Gap Index

India has slipped two places to 129th in the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Gender Gap Index, with Iceland remaining in first place. In South Asia, India ranks fifth, behind Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan, while Pakistan is at the bottom. Globally, Sudan is last out of the 146 countries assessed, with Pakistan just above at 145th.

India performs best in gender parity for secondary education enrollment and ranks a respectable 65th in women's political empowerment. Regarding how long women and men have held leadership positions over the last 50 years, India ranks 10th.

World Happiness Index

The annual World Happiness Report, which measures global life satisfaction based on factors like health, economy, and freedom, indicates that Indians are among the least happy people globally. In the latest report, India ranks 126th out of 143 countries, a slight drop from 125th last year. This ranking places India behind conflict-affected areas like Palestine and Ukraine, and neighboring countries like Pakistan and Nepal.

Human Development Index

India's Human Development Index (HDI) score, after falling in 2021 and remaining steady afterward, increased to 0.644 in 2022. This puts India at 134th out of 193 countries and territories, according to the 2023/24 Human Development Report (HDR), "Breaking the Gridlock: Reimagining Cooperation in a Polarized World." This report follows the 2021–2022 report, which showed the first two-year decline in global HDI values. With an HDI of 0.644, India falls into the medium human development category. Between 1990 and 2022, India's HDI value saw a significant 48.4% improvement, growing from 0.434 to 0.644.

Climate Change Performance Index

Despite dropping two places from the previous year, India still ranks 10th out of over 60 countries assessed for their climate change efforts. This relatively high ranking is due to India's low per capita emissions and rapid progress in expanding renewable energy use. The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI 2025), released at the UN climate conference in Baku, left the top three spots vacant, with Denmark coming in fourth and the Netherlands in fifth.

Global Peace Index

The report indicates that India’s overall level of peacefulness has increased by 1.6% over the past year, marking the highest level of peace since the inception of the index. As of the Global Peace Index (GPI) 2024, India holds the 116th position globally, with an overall score of 2.319. It represents a notable advancement from its 126th rank in 2023, 139th in 2020, and 141st in 2019.