2022 Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index

October 13, 2022

The 2022 Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index or CRI Index, that was recently released, is the fourth edition. According to this report, India has shown improvement in reducing inequality.

Key Facts

The CRI Index tracks 161 countries’ performance in reducing inequality among its population.
The index ranks countries based on their policies and actions in the areas of Public services (health, education and social protection), Taxation and Workers’ rights
It is a joint project of Oxfam International and Development Finance International.
Oxfam International is an international private organization based in England. It was originally founded in 1942.
Development Finance International or DFI Group is a non-profit group that enables the mobilization of development finance for fighting poverty and inequality.
The 2022 edition is the first detailed assessment of the countries’ policies and actions combating inequality during the pandemic years.
It noted the increase in economic inequality in both in rich and poor countries following the outbreak of pandemic in 2020. A large majority of governments have cut spending on health, education and social protection.
50% of the low-income and lower middle-income countries have cut the share of healthcare expenditure in their budgets.
50% of all countries have reduced the share of social protection spending and 70% of the countries have cut the share of education spending.
Notably, 143 countries have refrained from increasing the tax rate on the richest citizenry. 11 governments have actually lowered the tax rates for the rich.
The Norway tops the 2022 index. It is followed by Germany, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Japan, Denmark, and New Zealand.
India has been ranked at the 123^rd spot, which is an improvement of 6 places since 2020 (ranked at 129^th position). However, the country has come down 2 spots with regards to health spending.