Environment Performance Index 2014

India languishes at 155th place out of 178 countries globally in the recently released 'Environment Performance Index 2014'.  
The biennially published survey ranks countries on how well they perform on high-priority environmental issues in two broad policy areas: protection of human health from environmental harm and protection of ecosystems.
 

Facts

• India scores pathetically low on all possible indicators which abundantly reflects in the ranking which put us even below Pakistan (148), Nepal (139) and Sri Lanka (69) much less all other BRICS countries.
• Switzerland tops the ranking with Luxembourg, Australia, Singapore, and Czech Republic rounding out the top five spots. 
• The report has been prepared by Yale and Columbia Universities in collaboration with the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Rankings:

The top 5

• Switzerland: 1
• Luxembourg: 2
• Australia: 3
• Singapore: 4 (highest placed Asian country)
• Czech Republic: 5

Major Powers Rankings

• US: 33
• UK: 12
• France: 27
• Germany: 6
• Japan: 26

The bottom five 

• Somalia: 178
• Mali: 177
• Haiti: 176
• Lesotho: 175
• Afghanistan: 174

BRICS:

• Brazil: 77
• Russia: 73
• India: 155
• China: 118
• South Africa: 72

Neighbours

• Sri Lanka: 69
• Bhutan: 103
• Nepal: 139
• Pakistan: 148
• Myanmar: 164
• Bangladesh: 169 

Key Points

• The 178 nations featured in the list represent 99 per cent of the global population, 98 per cent of the world's total land area, and 97 per cent of the global GDP. 
• The survey concludes that indiscriminate urbanisation without sufficient investment in environmental safeguards is a key reason for emerging economies' poor showing. 
• These countries particularly suffer in terms of air quality, biodiversity and habitat protection.
• Improved environmental results are not anti-growth possible when measurement and management practices align.
• It shows that good environmental conditions do not necessarily mean employing anti-growth measures.
• All we need to do is to align our policies and practices to environmental results.