India is placed 130 out of 188 on the UN’s Human Development Index (HDI) in 2014, up marginally from 135 in 2013 and putting the country in ‘medium human development category’. India’s neighbors such as Nepal (Rank 145) and Pakistan (Rank 147) come under the ‘low human development category’. The HDI measures various dimensions of human well-being.
Inequality, particularly in education, has contributed to India’s poor ranking in the index, the annual report said. Pakistan and Bangladesh have a lower (HDI) score than India and yet perform better on gender equality as measured by gender-specific indicators: reproductive health measured by maternal mortality ratio and adolescent birth rates, empowerment quantified by share of parliamentary seats and attainment in education, and economic activity measured by labor market participation rate.
The only parameter where India fares better than that of Bangladesh as well as the South Asian average is the adolescent birth rate, which is the number of births per 1000 women of ages 15 to 19 years. A lower adolescent birth rate indicates a female population that is more in control of its choices when it comes to marrying and conceiving late.
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