Two indices, same number; why does 176 keep confusing headlines

India has once again found itself near the bottom of the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), ranking 176th out of 177 countries in the 2026 edition. With a score of 22.46 out of 100, India is only one place above Laos, which occupies the last position. The ranking has led to headlines that make the country's environmental performance appear to be simply getting worse. But there is another number in the same report that tells a slightly different story. India recorded a positive 10-year change of 7.47 points. So while the country remains one of the lowest-ranked performers, its environmental score has improved over the period measured by the index. The two figures may seem contradictory, but they are actually measuring two different things.

The EPI is a biennial assessment produced by researchers at the Yale Centre for Environmental Law and Policy and the Columbia Climate School. The 2026 edition evaluates 177 countries using 47 environmental indicators grouped into 12 issue categories. These are organised under three broad areas: environmental health, ecosystem vitality and climate change. The index looks at different aspects of environmental performance rather than relying on a single measure. This means that India's final score is the result of its performance across several areas, some of which may improve while others remain weak. A country's overall position therefore does not necessarily tell the complete story of what has happened to every environmental indicator.

India's position becomes clearer when compared with the rest of South Asia. The country ranks eighth and last among the eight countries included in the region, with a score of 22.46 against the regional average of 31.81. Bhutan ranks 52nd, followed by Sri Lanka at 94th and Nepal at 128th. Pakistan, the Maldives and Bangladesh also rank above India. Estonia, which tops the global list, has a score of 74.79. The difference between the scores shows how far India remains from the countries performing best in the index. At the same time, the ranking alone does not explain whether India's own environmental conditions have improved or deteriorated over time.

The reasons behind India's low position are spread across several areas. Environmental health is one of the weakest parts of its performance, with India ranked 174th in this category. Air pollution remains a major concern, particularly in areas where fine particulate matter and other pollutants continue to pose serious health risks. Ecosystem vitality is another weak area, with India ranked 171st. The index points to concerns surrounding biodiversity protection, natural resource management and the loss of tree cover in important biodiversity areas. Climate change performance is comparatively better, with India ranked 130th. However, this does not mean that the country's climate performance is strong. India continues to rely heavily on coal, while its greenhouse gas emissions remain high.

This is where the 10-year figure becomes important. India's overall EPI score has increased by 7.47 points over the past decade. The improvement does not suddenly turn India into a high-performing country, but it does show that the country has not simply moved backwards across every area measured by the index. The climate change category provides another example. India's score in this area has improved by 13.98 points over the decade, with the expansion of solar power contributing to the change. However, the increase in renewable energy has happened alongside continued dependence on fossil fuels. In other words, progress in one direction does not automatically mean that the larger problem has been solved.

The report also points to a broader environmental problem. In some areas, the issue is not necessarily that pollution and emissions have stopped increasing, but that their rates of increase have slowed. This distinction matters. A slower increase is still different from an actual decline. India can therefore show a positive trend in the index while continuing to face serious environmental pressures. This helps explain how the country can have a +7.47 ten-year change and remain at 176th place.

The EPI's ranking is also relative. India is being compared with other countries that are being measured at the same time. Even if India makes progress in some areas, its position may remain low if other countries improve more quickly or if serious problems in other categories continue to pull down its overall score. The index is therefore better understood as a scorecard than as a simple statement that a country is either improving or declining. A low rank indicates that India still has a large gap to close, but it does not erase the changes that have taken place over the past decade.

There is also a history of disagreement over the way India has been assessed. In 2022, when India was ranked 180th out of 180 countries, the Union Environment Ministry rejected the EPI rankings, questioning their methodology and describing the assessment as based on unfounded assumptions and unscientific methods. The government has also raised concerns about changes in the indicators and methodology used across different editions. This is another reason why comparing ranks from different years should be done carefully. The number of countries and the indicators included in the index have changed between editions, so a rank by itself cannot always be treated as a direct measure of improvement or decline.

At the same time, the 2026 EPI does highlight genuine concerns that cannot be explained away by the positive trend. India's air quality remains a major challenge, while biodiversity protection, ecosystem management and dependence on coal continue to affect its environmental performance. The country's comparatively better climate-change ranking also has its limits because renewable energy growth has not yet removed the dependence on fossil fuels. These problems show that improvement from a low base is not the same as reaching a satisfactory level of environmental performance.

The number 176, therefore, tells only part of India's environmental story. It shows where the country stands among the 177 countries assessed in 2026, and that position is undeniably poor. But the +7.47 ten-year change shows that the direction of some aspects of India's performance has been more positive than the headline rank suggests. Both numbers can be true at the same time. India's environmental performance has improved in some respects, while major problems continue to hold the country near the bottom of the global ranking. Rather than treating 176 as proof that nothing has changed, the 2026 EPI offers a more complicated picture: India has made some progress, but the pace and scale of that progress are still not enough to overcome its deeper environmental challenges.

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