Given all the focus on Kerala recently (for an outstanding response to COVID-19), we thought we& #39;d add it to the Sustainable Development Index. Turns out it& #39;s doing well: in the top 15, and much better than India and China!

Life expectancy in Kerala is just shy of China, education is better, and emissions and material footprint are significantly less. Thanks to @huzaifazoom for running the numbers. https://www.sustainabledevelopmentindex.org..."> https://www.sustainabledevelopmentindex.org... 

People look to China as a model for development. There is no justification for this. China is an ecological disaster. Kerala roughly matches China in human development outcomes but with much, much less ecological impact.

For those who have asked whether Kerala& #39;s relatively low ecological impact is due to the fact that its economy is 30% remittances: no, impact here is assessed in consumption-based terms, so it includes the CO2 and materials embedded in the stuff people buy with remittance income.