New Delhi: India fares poorly among middle-income countries when it comes to overall well-being of children even as the world witnessed significant progress in child health, education and nutrition during the last decade.
India has slipped by 12 ranks since 1995 and is placed 112th in the global “Child Development Index” released by Save the Children, the world’s leading independent NGO that works for child rights.
According to the report, which analyzed child well-being on three basic parameters of health, education and nutrition since 1995, India’s CDI fell by three ranks from 100 to 103 between 1995 and 1999 and by another nine ranks (103 to 112) between 2005 and 2010. Out of 141 countries covered by the report, India is among the 14 whose ranks have dropped, it said.
In India, 42 percent of children are underweight, while 58 percent are stunted by the age of two years.
