Kerala topped the SDG India Index 2023-24 — option 4, sharing the first place with Uttarakhand on a score of 79.

What the Index is. The SDG India Index is published by NITI Aayog with the United Nations in India. It scores every state and Union Territory from 0 to 100 on progress towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015 for the period to 2030, using a large set of national indicators. It is the world’s first government-led sub-national index of its kind, first published in 2018.

The 2023-24 results. Kerala and Uttarakhand shared the top place with 79; Tamil Nadu, Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab followed closely. India’s composite score rose from 66 in 2020-21 to 71, and for the first time every state and Union Territory was in the Front Runner or Achiever category, with Bihar and Jharkhand at the foot of the table but no longer classed as Aspirants.

Why Kerala is consistently first. It has led the index in almost every edition, on the strength of the indicators that carry most weight — literacy and school enrolment, life expectancy, infant and maternal mortality, sanitation, and the lowest multidimensional poverty in the country. The “Kerala model” of high human development on a modest per capita income is precisely what an index of this kind rewards.

Bihar’s position has improved substantially across editions, from an Aspirant score in the earliest years into the Front Runner band, though it remains at the lower end of the ranking — a point worth knowing for a state examination.

Hence, the answer is Kerala.