Progress of Human Development in India: A Cross-Country Comparison with Survey Data

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18195116

Madhurima Saha (Department of Economics, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, Department of Economics, South Calcutta Girls’ College, Kolkata, West Bengal)

The paper attempts to examine India’s progress in the Human Development Index (HDI) in comparison to its neighboring countries over various periods. The study analyses the components of the Human Development Index (HDI) of India along with its neighbour countries for different years to observe the trend. Further, the study specifically analyses the human development components for India for different periods to observe the level of improvement of the indicators. The result shows that India belongs to the medium category of human development and is placed behind China, Bhutan, Nepal and even Srilanka. Though over the years, India has uplifted its position in the Human Development Index (HDI) by the better performance of the indicators, it still lies in the medium category of human development. Finally, the paper summarizes and concludes with policy suggestions.