UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Brazil takes a historic HDI leap with focused planning and public spending
Q1. With reference to Brazil's Human Development Index (HDI), consider the following statements comparing the values for 2012 and 2024:
1. The overall HDI rose from 0.744 in 2012 to 0.805 in 2024, crossing the 'very high human development' threshold for the first time.
2. The education sub-index rose from 0.679 in 2012 to 0.798 in 2024 and was the single largest contributor to the gain.
3. By 2024, the income sub-index also crossed 0.800, placing it in the 'very high' category.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- The overall HDI rose from 0.744 in 2012 to 0.805 in 2024, crossing the 'very high human development' threshold for the first time.
- The education sub-index rose from 0.679 in 2012 to 0.798 in 2024 and was the single largest contributor to the gain.
- By 2024, the income sub-index also crossed 0.800, placing it in the 'very high' category.
- A. 1 and 2 only
- B. 2 and 3 only
- C. 1 and 3 only
- D. 1, 2 and 3
Q2. According to UNDP's 2024 assessment that propelled Brazil into the 'very high human development' category, which one of the following sub-indices was the single largest contributor to the rise in Brazil's HDI between 2012 and 2024?
- A. Income (GNI per capita)
- B. Education
- C. Health and longevity (life expectancy at birth)
- D. Gender inequality adjustment
Q3. The Bolsa Família programme, widely credited as a driver of Brazil's HDI leap, was formally established as a unified federal conditional cash transfer programme under which one of the following statutes?
- A. Law No. 10.836 of 2004
- B. Law No. 8.080 of 1990 (Organic Health Law)
- C. Law No. 11.340 of 2006 (Maria da Penha Law)
- D. Law No. 12.711 of 2012 (Quotas Law)
Q4. As per the programme's current operational scale that featured in the UNDP's 2024 HDI analysis, Bolsa Família directly reaches approximately how many families across Brazil?
- A. About 5 million families
- B. About 10 million families
- C. About 20 million families
- D. About 50 million families
Q5. With reference to the methodology used by the UNDP to compute the Human Development Index that placed Brazil in the 'very high' category in 2024, consider the following:
1. Life expectancy at birth
2. Mean and expected years of schooling
3. Gross National Income (GNI) per capita on a purchasing-power-parity basis
4. Gini coefficient of income inequality
Which of the above is/are correctly identified as a dimension of the Human Development Index?
- Life expectancy at birth
- Mean and expected years of schooling
- Gross National Income (GNI) per capita on a purchasing-power-parity basis
- Gini coefficient of income inequality
- A. 1, 2 and 3 only
- B. 1, 2 and 4 only
- C. 2, 3 and 4 only
- D. 1 and 3 only