According to a report commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Lancet Medical Journal, India ranked 77th on a Sustainability Index that takes into account per capita carbon emissions and the ability of children to live healthy lives. It also secured the 131st position on the Flourishing Index, a ranking measuring the best chances at survival and well-being for children.
The report assessed the capacity of 180 countries and was released by a commission of over 40 child and adolescent health experts from around the world.
The Sustainability Index ranked countries on excess carbon emissions compared with the 2030 target, a crucial indicator to understand a country’s contribution to building a sustainable future.
The Flourishing Index is calculated as a geometric mean for the Surviving Index and Thriving Index. The domains of assessment for the Surviving Index were maternal survival, survival in children younger than 5 years old, suicide, access to maternal and child health services, basic hygiene and sanitation, and lack of extreme poverty. For the Thriving Index, the committee evaluated educational achievement, growth and nutrition, reproductive freedoms, and protection from violence.
Norway ranked at the top for survival, health, education and nutrition rates, followed by South Korea and the Netherlands. The Central African Republic, Chad and Somalia, on the other hand, ranked at the bottom.
However, Norway, South Korea and the Netherlands ranked at the 156th, 166th, and 160th positions on per capita CO2 emissions, respectively. The United States, Australia and Saudi Arabia are among the 10 worst emitters. The only countries on track to beat CO2 emission per capita targets by 2030, while also performing well on child flourishing measures, are Albania, Armenia, Grenada, Jordan, Moldova, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Uruguay and Vietnam.
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