A global index finds no significant correlation between GDP and performance as China and India, the two fastest growing Asian economies, are nowhere in the top five category
.jpg "India has performed abysmally by occupying the 93rd position in the global index on water and sanitation even after the launch of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Photo: Pradip Saha)")
A new global index report shows that India has performed poorly when it comes to water accessibility and water equity. The country has also not made much progress on sanitation equity and accessibility.
Besides India, Russia, Philippines, and North Korea have also fared badly. The study points out that while South and Southeast Asian countries lag behind in sanitation accessibility, sub-Saharan nations lag behind in water accessibility.
The Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Performance Index 2015, developed by the Water Institute at the University of North Carolina, was released recently at Gillings School of Global Public Health.
About the index
The index contains a comparison of country-wise performance on water, sanitation and hygiene fronts. It assesses performance in the following four categories: water access, water equity, sanitation access and sanitation equity.
The top-five countries are El Salvador, Niger, Egypt, Maldives and Pakistan. The bottom-five performers are the Dominican Republic, Gambia, Ghana, Samoa and Timor-Leste.
Pakistan performed exceptionally well by occupying the fifth place on the index whereas India’s rank stands at 93. This abysmal performance comes after the launch of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
No link between GDP and performance
The index finds no significant correlation between gross domestic product (GDP) and performance. China and India, the two fastest growing Asian economies, are nowhere in the top five. China stands at 11 in the index.
Out of the top 10 performing countries, two belong to the low-income bracket, five are in the lower-middle income bracket and three are in the upper middle income bracket.
Among the countries which are at the bottom of the index, three are low-income nations, five are lower-middle income countries and two belong to the upper-middle income bracket.
The top performing countries are mostly from South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Among the bottom 10 countries, three are from East Asia and the Pacific and four are from sub-Saharan Africa.
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