NEW DELHI : India has been ranked 176th among 177 countries in the 2026 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), leaving it second from the bottom of the global table with a score of 22.46 out of 100.
Only Laos, with 21.78 points, ranked below India, while Estonia topped the 2026 index with 74.79 points. India also recorded the lowest position among the eight South Asian countries included in the assessment.India’s performance was weakest in several areas tied closely to environmental health and ecosystems. It ranked 174th for Environmental Health, 171st for Ecosystem Vitality and 130th for Climate Change, according to the latest assessment.
Air quality remained one of India’s poorest indicators, with the country placed 175th and scoring just 7.89. The EPI assesses exposure to pollutants including fine particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide.
The ecosystem figures are also poor. India recorded a -51.77 score for Marine Protected Area effectiveness, while its Regional Marine Trophic Index showed a 10.27-point decline over 10 years, adding to concerns over marine ecosystem conditions.
The overall ranking, however, sits alongside some improvement over the longer period. India’s EPI score has increased by 7.47 points over 10 years, while its climate-change performance improved by 13.98 points during the same period.
The 2026 EPI covers 177 countries through 47 indicators across 12 environmental issue categories, grouped under Environmental Health, Ecosystem Vitality and Climate Change. These three areas carry different weights in determining the final country score.
Environmental Health accounts for 25%, Ecosystem Vitality for 45% and Climate Change for 30% of the overall index. That weighting makes ecosystem performance particularly important to India’s final position.
India has previously questioned the EPI’s methodology. After the country ranked last in the 2022 edition, the government raised concerns about how the index was constructed and the indicators used to assess environmental performance.
The latest results again leave India near the bottom globally, but the individual indicators show a mixed record: very weak air quality and ecosystem scores alongside measurable improvement in some climate-related indicators.
