UN report reiterates a public secret: India is worse than Pak for women

New Delhi: Along with its dismal Human Development Index (HDI), India also has a very poor Gender Inequality Index, which is among the worst in the world, according to the latest UN Human Development Report released on Thursday.

Except Afghanistan which stood at a rank of 147 compared to India’s 132, all countries in the South Asia region and also China were ranked way higher than it on the Gender Inequality Index, which is a measure reflecting inequality in achievements between women and men in three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market.

Women represent only 10.9 percent of the Indian Parliament, with only Iran being worse at 3.1 percent, in the region. The country with the best representation in the South Asia region is Nepal with 33.2 percent representation of women.

More from Economy

Inflation likely to be a big focus area for budget 2024, say sources Explained: Will the Bank of Japan break tradition and raise interest rates?

According to the report, India also fares badly on Maternal mortality ratio (which is the ratio of the number of maternal deaths to the number of live births in a given year, expressed per 100,000 live births). For every 100,000 births, 200 women die at childbirth or with complications related to childbearing. Only Bangladesh (240), Pakistan (260) and Afghanistan (460) have a higher maternal mortality ratio. Sri Lanka at just 35 and Iran at 21 have the lowest ratio in maternal mortality.

[caption id=“attachment_662307” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Except Afghanistan which stood at a rank of 147 compared to India’s 132, all countries in the South Asia region and also China were ranked way higher than it on the Gender Inequality Index,. Reuters[/caption]

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite index measuring average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development-a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living.

The 2013 Human Development Report - The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World - analyses more than 40 developing countries that have made striking human development gains in recent years and cites that rapid human development progress in India, Bangladesh and other South Asian nations is helping drive a shift in global dynamics and improving the lives of the world’s poor.