Arrange the BRICS countries in ascending order of their rank in the Human Development Report 2023-24, released by the UNDP : 1. China 2. India 3. Russia 4. Brazil 5. South Africa Select the answer using the code given below :
- (a)2, 5, 4, 1, 3
- (b)2, 4, 5, 3, 1
- (c)5, 4, 2, 3, 1
- (d)4, 5, 2, 1, 3
Correct — A, 2, 5, 4, 1, 3. The Human Development Report 2023-24, released in March 2024 on 2022 data, places the five BRICS members as follows: Russia 56th with an index value of 0.821, China 75th with 0.788, Brazil 89th with 0.760, South Africa 110th with 0.717 and India 134th with 0.644. Arranged from the lowest level of human development upwards, that is India, then South Africa, then Brazil, then China, then Russia — numbered as 2, 5, 4, 1, 3. Note what the stem's wording does: a strict reading of ascending order of rank would start at rank 56 and give Russia first, but no option offers that sequence, so the intended sense is ascending order of achievement, which puts the weakest-placed country first. Option (a) is the only sequence that matches the published figures under either careful reading.
- (b)2, 4, 5, 3, 1 — Puts Brazil ahead of South Africa and Russia ahead of China. Both are the wrong way round on the 2023-24 figures, in which South Africa at 110 sits above Brazil at 89 only if you are counting downwards, and Russia at 56 is ahead of China at 75.
- (c)5, 4, 2, 3, 1 — Starts with South Africa and places India third, but India is the lowest-placed of the five at rank 134.
- (d)4, 5, 2, 1, 3 — Starts with Brazil, which is the third-highest of the five, not the lowest.
The Human Development Report is published by the United Nations Development Programme and ranks countries on the Human Development Index, a geometric mean of indices for life expectancy at birth, schooling and gross national income per capita. The 2023-24 edition, titled Breaking the Gridlock, was released in March 2024 and covers 193 countries and territories on 2022 data. BRICS spans nearly the whole range of the index, from Russia in the very high human development band to India in the medium band.
The item can be answered without remembering five exact ranks, because the relative order of these five economies has been stable for years: Russia highest, then China, then Brazil, then South Africa, then India. Fix that chain and the only decision left is which end the sequence starts from — and here the options settle it, since the strictly literal reading of the stem is not offered. As of the 2024 exam India stood at 134; note that BRICS itself has since expanded well beyond these five members, so a similar question set today would carry a longer list. Worth flagging: UPSC has not released a key for this paper, and some answer keys in circulation mark (b). That sequence matches no ordering of the published figures at all, so this card takes (a).
- Human Development Report 2023-24 ranks (2022 data): Russia 56 (0.821), China 75 (0.788), Brazil 89 (0.760), South Africa 110 (0.717), India 134 (0.644).
- The report was released in March 2024 and covers 193 countries and territories.
- India's value of 0.644 places it in the medium human development band; Russia is in the very high band.
- The index is a geometric mean of the health, education and income dimension indices.
- Reversing the sequence because 'ascending rank' and 'ascending development' point in opposite directions.
- Assuming South Africa outranks Brazil because it is often grouped with upper-middle-income economies.
- Quoting a rank from a different edition of the report; the rank moves with the number of countries covered.
As an arrange-in-order item on ranks in a named report, or as a single-answer question on India's rank and index value.
Arrange the following countries in descending order as per the Global Human Development Index, 2019: 1. Germany 2. USA 3. South Africa 4. India Select the correct answer using the code given below.
- (a) 1, 2, 3, 4
- (b) 1, 3, 2, 4
- (c) 3, 2, 1, 4
- (d) 4, 3, 2, 1
Answer(a) 1, 2, 3, 4
The same task four years earlier and in the opposite direction — descending rather than ascending. Both items reward holding a stable mental league table of countries on the index, and both put India at the bottom of the set.
- practice — not a real PYQ
In the Human Development Report 2023-24, India's Human Development Index rank was
- (a)112
- (b)121
- (c)134
- (d)142
Answer(c) 134 — with an index value of 0.644 on 2022 data, placing India in the medium human development band.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which BRICS member had the highest Human Development Index value in the Human Development Report 2023-24?
- (a)Brazil
- (b)Russia
- (c)India
- (d)China
Answer(b) Russia — 0.821 at rank 56, ahead of China at 75, Brazil at 89, South Africa at 110 and India at 134.