Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday took an apparent jibe at the Centre for India’s low ranking in the World Happiness Report.
“Hunger Rank: 101, Freedom Rank: 119, Happiness Rank: 136,” Gandhi tweeted. “But, we may soon top the Hate and Anger charts!”
India was ranked 136 out of 150 countries in the World Happiness Report compiled and released by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network on Saturday.
India’s position improved by three notches from last year’s 139th rank. However, it fared worse than many of its neighbouring countries – Pakistan (121), Bangladesh (94) and Sri Lanka (127).
Finland was deemed the happiest country for the fifth time. Afghanistan ranked last on the list.
The report calculates the score based on three parameters: life evaluations, positive emotions and negative emotions. To assess life evaluations, respondents are asked to evaluate their current life as a whole using ladder as a mental image, with the best possible life for them as a 10 and worst possible as a 0.
Positive and negative emotions, calculated separately, are assessed by respondents being asked to answer “yes” or “no” to three questions in both categories about emotions they experienced the previous day.
About 1,000 such responses are collected to construct a countrywide average based on the population.
Hunger and Freedom rankings
In the 2021 Global Hunger Index published in October, India was ranked at the 101 position out of 116 countries. India’s rank fell from 94 in 2020. It was also ranked behind its neighbours Pakistan (92), Nepal (76) and Bangladesh (76).
India’s global hunger index score is 27.5 – a slight improvement from 27.2 in 2020 among a list of 107 countries. This still puts India in the “serious” category along with 30 other countries, including Pakistan.
The Global Hunger Index score is calculated on four indicators – undernourishment, child wasting (the share of children under the age of five with low weight for their height), child stunting (children under the age of five with low height for their age) and child mortality (the mortality rate of children under the age of five).
In the Human Freedom Index report released in December, India’s was ranked 119 out of 165 countries, reported PTI.
The report – co-published by think tanks United States’ Cato Institute and the Fraser Institute in Canada – showed that India’s rank in “personal freedoms” category has fallen since 2013 but its performance on “economic freedom” improved marginally in the same period.
The report was based on 82 different indicators. India ranked better than its some of its neighbours – China (150), Pakistan (145) and Bangladesh (142). However, its rankings was worse than Nepal (84), Bhutan (98) and Sri Lanka (112).
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