India Ranks 176th Out of 177 Countries in Global Environment Performance Index 2026, Among World's Worst Performers

Key Points

PERFORMING SPECTACULARLY WELL (from below) in the 2026’s Global Environment Performance Index (EPI), India has established itself at 176th rank out of 177 countries. The EPI is a comprehensive indice that ranks countries by assessing them on three environmental-related indicators — environmental health, ecosystem vitality and mitigating climate change —  and gives them a score between 0-100. In this year’s rankings, India had an overall score of 22.46.

The best performing country in 2026's Global Environment Performance Index was Estonia, with an EPI score of 74.79. India was the worst-performing nation in the South-Asian countries category, ranking at position 8 behind Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Maldives, and Bangladesh.

India’s performance in 2026 rankings seems to be a slight improvement from the 2022 one, wherein the country ranked at the very bottom of the index, 180 rank out of 180 countries. In response to the 2022 ranking, the Indian government issued a statement deeming that the index’s rankings were based on “surmises and unscientific methods”. In 2024, India ranked 176th out of 180 countries.

What is the Global Environment Performance Index?

Every two years, Yale University, in collaboration with Columbia University, releases a comprehensive report that assesses environmental performance of each country, called the ‘Global Environment Performance Index.’ It compiles various environment-related data from each country, including satellite images, on several indicators and specific ‘issue categories’ under three main policy objectives. Environmental health is one such policy objective, and includes issue categories such as air quality, and indicators such as ambient fine particulate matter levels.

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Ecosystem Vitality is the next policy objective, which assesses how well a country manages their natural resources. It includes indicators like tree cover loss, pesticide pollution risks, and marine habitat protection. 

The third policy objective is climate change mitigation, which includes indicators such as carbon dioxide and methane emission trends. All of these three policy objectives are measured comprehensively to determine each country’s EPI score, which ranges between 0 and 100. The higher the score, the better the country's performance on environment-related matters.

What does the 2026 Global Environment Performance Index report say?

The 2026 Global Environment Performance Index ranked 177 countries on 47 environmental indicators, which were part of 12 ‘issue’ categories under the three main policy goals. Ecosystem vitality had the highest weightage in the overall assessment (45%), followed by Climate Change (30% weightage) and Environmental Health (25% weightage). 

According to the EPI 2026, Estonia retained its rank 1 position with a score of 74.79. Its strong performance is largely attributed to a “substantial reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in power generation over the past decade as it ramped up renewable electricity and shut down fossil fuel production,” as per a press statement. Estonia also ranks among the top countries globally in biodiversity and ecosystem protection. It had secured the top spot in the previous EPI as well.

India’s performance in Global Environment Performance Index 2026

India ranked second-last in the index, with a rank of 177 just ahead of the worst-performing country Laos. In individual policy objectives rankings, India ranked 174 in environmental health, 171 in ecosystem vitality, and 130 in climate change policies.

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“India, whose per-capita emissions remain relatively low but are growing rapidly, faces an acute development-versus-pollution tension as hundreds of millions of people gain access to modern energy services but at the price of serious urban air pollution and spiking GHG emissions,” the report noted.

Several of India’s air quality indicators over a ten-year period — including the burden of death and disease from exposure to fine particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and sulphur dioxide — have shown negative values. This indicates India’s poor performance in these aspects. The country’s ‘Marine Protected Area effectiveness was also extremely low,’ recording a negative change of -51.77. EPI researchers that India’s weak performance reflects severe air quality issues, continued dependence on coal-fired power, and inadequate biodiversity protections.

(Edited by Harsh Pandey)

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