Current Affairs February 2018 - Reports

1 - India cheapest country to live in after South Africa

According to a recent survey of 112 countries conducted by GoBankingRates, India is ranked second cheapest country to live or retire. South Africa has topped the survey as the cheapest country.

The survey was conducted on the basis of four key affordability metrics: Local purchasing power index, rent index, Groceries index, and Consumer price index. Among the most expensive countries in the survey are Bermuda (ranked 112), Bahamas (111), Hong Kong (110), Switzerland (109) and Ghana (108).

2 - India 6^th wealthiest country

According to a report by New World Wealth, India has been ranked sixth in the list of wealthiest countries with total wealth of $8,230 billion.

The list was topped by United States with a total wealth of $64,584 billion, followed by China ($24,803 billion) and Japan ($19,522 billion). India's wealth rose 25% in 2017, making it the best performing wealth market globally. India has 20,730 multimillionaires, the seventh largest in the world.

3 - India slipped to 42^nd place on EIU Democracy Index

According to a report compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), India has slipped to 42^nd place on an annual Global Democracy Index. The falll in th rankings primarily due to “rise of conservative religious ideologies”.

The list was topped by Norway followed by Iceland and Sweden. New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Finland and Switzerland formed the rest in the top ten. USA was ranked 21^st. North Korea is ranked the lowest at 167^th.

4 - Forbes India 30 Under 30 list unveiled

Forbes has released its “30 Under 30” list for 2018. The list includes entrepreneurs, innovators and game-changers under the age of 30. The List features young achievers like pistol shooter Heena Sidhu, right-arm fast-medium bowler Jasprit Bumrah, singer and song-writer Jubin Nautiyal, Indian hockey goalkeeper Savita Punia, actress Bhumi Pednekar among others.

The other notables in the list were Rohan M Ganapathy and Yashas Karanam, Ankit Agarwal and Karan Rastogi, Chirag Chhajer, Kshitij Marwah, Gautam Bhatia etc

5 - Mumbai airport surveyed as world’s busiest single-runway airport

The GVK group-run Mumbai airport created historical record and became the world’s busiest airport amongst the single-runway facilities by handling 837 flights a day or one in 65 seconds on an average in fiscal 2017 leaving behind London’s Gatwick airport that had 757 flights a day. CAPA report concluded that Mumbai airport is miraculously managing 980 arrivals and take-offs in 24 hours.

According to Sydney-based CAPA in its 2017 annual report, Mumbai airport will reach saturation point in 2018 as it is already handling 94% of its maximum passenger handling capacity.

6 - Forbes released first-ever Crypto Rich list

Forbes has released its first ever list of richest people in cryptocurrency. Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen has topped the list with an an estimated crypto net worth of USD 7.5-8 billion.

Joseph Lubin with crypto net worth (USD 1-5 billion), Changpeng Zhao (USD 1.1-2 billion), Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss (USD 900 million-1.1 billion) and Matthew Mellon (USD 900 million-1.1 billion) are the others in the top five.

7 - India ranked at 44^th position in Global Intellectual Property Index

According to the International IP Index published by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC), India has been ranked at 44^th position out of 50 economies. The index analyses the intellectual property (IP) climate in 50 world economies.

Last year, India ranked 43^rd out of 45 countries in the Index. The list was topped by USA followed by United Kingdom and Sweden.

8 - India ranks 81^st in global corruption perception index

According to a report released by the Transparency International (TI), India has been ranked at the 81^st position in the annual corruption index among a group of 180 countries. The Corruption Perception Index 2017 also named India as one of the “worst offenders” in terms of graft and press freedom in the Asia Pacific region.

In the 2016 India was in the 79^th place. India’s score remained intact at 40 points out of 100 in both 2016 and 2017. New Zealand and Singapore scored the highest scores with 89 and 84, respectively. Somalia has been reported as the most corrupt nation in the index.

9 - Mumbai 12^th wealthiest city globally

According to a report by New World Wealth, India's financial capital Mumbai is the 12^th wealthiest city globally with a total wealth of $950 billion. The list is topped by New York with a total wealth of $3 trillion.

The other cities in the top ten are London ($2.7 trillion), Tokyo ($2.5 trillion), San Francisco Bay area ($2.3 trillion), Beijing ($2.2 trillion), Shanghai ($2 trillion), Los Angeles ($1.4 trillion), Hong Kong ($1.3 trillion), Sydney ($1 trillion), Singapore ($1 trillion) and Chicago ($988 billion).

10 - NITI Aayog released “Healthy States, Progressive India” Report

NITI Aayog released a comprehensive Health Index report titled, “Healthy States, Progressive India”. The report ranks states and Union territories innovatively on their year-on-year incremental change in health outcomes, as well as, their overall performance with respect to each other.

Among the Larger States, Kerala, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu ranked on top in terms of overall performance, while Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh are the top three ranking States in terms of annual incremental performance. Among Smaller States, Mizoram ranked first followed by Manipur on overall performance and Goa was the top ranked States in terms of annual incremental performance. Among UTs, Lakshadweep showed both the best overall performance as well as the highest annual incremental performance.