Where India stood in the global indices of 2026: explained simply

What happened

The major global indices placed India as follows, each as of its own release. Global Hunger Index 2026 (14 October): 100th of 122, score 24.1, 'serious' category. Corruption Perceptions Index 2025 (February): 91st of 182, up from 96th. World Happiness Report (March): 116th of 147. Global Terrorism Index (March): 13th; Pakistan first. Press Freedom Index (April): 157th of 180, down from 151st. Environmental Performance Index (July): 176th of 177. Global Gender Gap Index (September): 131st of 145, unchanged. WEF Travel and Tourism Development Index (September): 31st of 110, up from 39th. Henley Passport Index: 80th in the January edition, 84th in the October edition (reported as up one place; editions are not directly comparable). SIPRI: second-largest arms importer, fifth-largest spender.

Why it matters

Index questions are among the most predictable in current affairs: the rank, the total, the direction of change, who tops the list and who publishes it. They are also the easiest to get wrong, because ranks move between editions and totals change, so every figure here carries its release month. The page reports what each publisher said; it does not judge the indices.

Timeline

14 Jan2026
Henley Passport Index, January 2026 edition: India 80th, up five places from 85th, with visa-free or on-arrival access to 55 destinations; Singapore first with 192 of 227
10 Feb2026
Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index 2025: India 91st of 182 with a score of 39, up from 96th (score 38) in 2024, tied with the Maldives; the global average fell to 42
9 Mar2026
SIPRI arms transfers 2021 to 2025: India the second-largest importer (8.2 percent of global imports) behind Ukraine (9.7 percent); the United States is the top exporter with 42 percent
10 Mar2026
Forbes World's Billionaires 2026: a record 229 Indian billionaires with combined wealth over USD 1 trillion; Mukesh Ambani richest Indian at USD 99.7 billion, Gautam Adani second at USD 63.8 billion; Elon Musk first globally among 3,428 billionaires
18 Mar2026
Global Terrorism Index 2026 (Institute for Economics and Peace): Pakistan first for the first time, Burkina Faso second, India 13th; global terrorism deaths fell 28 percent to 5,582
19 Mar2026
As reported: World Happiness Report 2026: India 116th of 147, up from 118th; Finland first for the ninth straight year, then Iceland and Denmark
27 Apr2026
SIPRI military expenditure 2025: India fifth at USD 92.1 billion, up 8.9 percent, after the US, China, Russia and Germany; world spending USD 2,887 billion, the 11th straight annual rise
30 Apr2026
RSF World Press Freedom Index 2026: India 157th of 180, down six places from 151st; Pakistan 153rd, Bangladesh 152nd; Norway first for the tenth year and the global average at a 25-year low
31 Jul2026
Environmental Performance Index 2026 (Yale and Columbia): India 176th of 177 with a score of 22.46; Estonia first, Laos last; India was 176th of 180 in 2024 and 180th of 180 in 2022
16 Sep2026
WEF Global Gender Gap Index 2026: India 131st of 145, unchanged from 2025, parity score about 64.5 percent; Iceland, Finland and Norway top three; political empowerment is India's strongest sub-index (67th)
26 Sep2026
WEF Travel and Tourism Development Index 2026: India 31st of 110, up from 39th in 2024; Japan first, then the US, Spain, Australia and France
14 Oct2026
As reported: Global Hunger Index 2026, titled 'No Security Without Food Security': India 100th of 122 with a score of 24.1, in the 'serious' category, where it has been since 2012; child wasting about 19 percent; the score has eased from 25.8 in 2018
17 Oct2026
As reported: Henley Passport Index, October 2026 edition (ranking dated 9 October): India 84th, up one place on the previous edition, with 55 visa-free destinations, down from 57 in October 2025; Singapore first with 193, Japan, South Korea and the UAE tied second with 188

Words to know

Global Hunger Index (GHI): Published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe, with the IFHV, using four indicators: undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting and child mortality. A score of 24.1 falls in the 'serious' category. The 2026 report was released on 14 October.
Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI): Published by Transparency International (Berlin, founded 1993); scores run from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). Denmark has long topped it.
World Press Freedom Index: Published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), based in Paris and founded in 1985, around World Press Freedom Day on 3 May. Norway has topped it for ten years.
World Happiness Report: Produced by the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre with Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, published around the International Day of Happiness on 20 March.
Global Gender Gap Index: Published by the World Economic Forum (Cologny, Geneva) since 2006, across four sub-indices: economic participation, education, health and political empowerment.
Henley Passport Index: Ranks 199 passports across 227 destinations by visa-free, on-arrival or e-visa access, using IATA data; it is updated more than once a year, so the rank depends on the edition cited.
Environmental Performance Index (EPI): Published every two years by Yale and Columbia universities across 47 indicators in 12 categories and three objectives: environmental health, ecosystem vitality and climate change.
SIPRI: The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, founded in 1966, which released its 2021 to 2025 arms-transfer data in March 2026 and its 2025 military-expenditure data in April 2026.
Global Terrorism Index: Published by the Institute for Economics and Peace, based in Sydney. Burkina Faso topped it in 2024 and 2025 before Pakistan in 2026.

What an exam could ask

India's rank and the total countries could be asked for any index here; the safest pairings are GHI 100 of 122, CPI 91 of 182, Press Freedom 157 of 180, Gender Gap 131 of 145 and EPI 176 of 177.
The publisher could be asked: Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe (GHI), Transparency International (CPI), RSF (press freedom), WEF (gender gap and tourism), Yale and Columbia (EPI), IEP (terrorism), SIPRI (arms).
Who tops each list could be asked: Finland (happiness), Norway (press freedom), Iceland (gender gap), Singapore (passports), Estonia (EPI), Japan (tourism), Pakistan (terrorism impact).
The direction of change could be asked, so the previous-year figures matter: CPI 96th to 91st, press freedom 151st to 157th, happiness 118th to 116th, tourism 39th to 31st; Henley's editions are not directly comparable, so avoid a January-to-October comparison.
The four GHI indicators and the 'serious' category could be asked as a methodology question.

Angles to revise, not predictions.

Sources

Written from verified news. Errors can occur: verify important facts with official sources.