India, South Asia's Worst Performing Country on Gender Equality


Bangalore: In terms of gender equality India is South Asia's worst performing country, says the UNDP's Human Development Report 2013. India is placed after Afghanistan on the index. Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh are poorer than India and have lower Human Development Index (HDIs), but they still fare comparatively better than India when it comes to gender equality, reported TNN.

India ranks 136th out of 186 countries in the new UNDP report. Between 1980 and 2012 India's HDI rose by 1.7 percent annually from 0.345 to 0.554. However, India is five ranks below post-war Iraq, on the Human Development Index. The HDI is a compound indicator made of three equally weighted measures for health, education and income.

Further, India's poverty headcount ratio was recorded at 54 percent, higher than Bangladesh and Nepal on the newly constituted Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI).

The UNDP study also revealed that only 29 percent of women in India above the age of 15 in 2011 were a part of the country’s labor force, when compared to 80.7 percent men. While, only 10.9 percent of lawmakers are women in the Parliament.

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