Revision as of 10:01, 22 August 2015

2011: more women married than men

The Times of India Mar 03 2015

2011: percentage of men and women married in various age groups

Atul Thakur

29.3cr wives, 28.7cr hubbies: Census bares polygamy truth

15 Lakh Under-15 Girls Married: 2011 Survey

Just-released Census data shows there are about 66 lakh more women who are “currently married“ than men. While part of this might be accounted for by married men who have migrated abroad for work leaving their wives behind, the data also indicates that there are a very large number of women in polygamous marriages. The data also shows that in 2011, the Census year, more than 18 lakh girls under the age of 15 were married.

Of the total 120 crore population about 58 crore were married at the time of the Census. This number does not include those divorced, wi dowed or separated. Among these 58 crore married persons, 29.3 crore were women while 28.7 crore were men. A state-wise comparison of married women and men shows the migration effect.For instance, Kerala has the highest skew with 1.13 married women for every married man. It is followed by Uttarak hand, Himachal, UP and Bihar, where this ratio ranges from 1.04 to 1.07. These are all states with high outflows of migrant workers. On the flip side, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi, states known for a high influx of migrant labour, have more married men than women.

Another male-female skew is in proportions of the two genders married in dfferent age groups. In the 20-24 age group, about 69% of women were married while just over 30% of men were married.The difference between proportion of married men and women to the total population of an age group gradually decreases after 24 years of age.

2011: Widows

The Times of India

Massive spike in number of widows

Mar 03 2015

B Sivakumar

There has been a huge in crease in the number of widows in India since 2001, according to just-released Census 2011 data. India's population in 2011 was 121 crore and, of this, 4.6% or 5.6 crore are widowed, with women outnumbering men by a long way .In 2001, only 18.5 lakh or 0.7% of the then population of 102 crore was widowed. While Census officials are surprised by the magnitude of the spike, they say there has been no change in Census parameters for 2011. “The only change was with regard to separation and divorcees.While in 2001, both were clubbed together, in 2011, it was collected as two separate entities,“ said Census commissioner C Chandramouli.

Experts feel the increase in life expectancy , particularly of women, is the main reason for the jump. “It is a global phenomenon that women live longer and in India, too, it is catching up since the 1990s,“ international population ex pert P Arokiasamy told TOI.Apart from this, there is most often an age gap between men and women during marriage.As life expectancy for women increases, they live as widows for longer, he said.

Among states, Kerala has 6.7% and TN 6.4% of the widowed population. Obviously , states with significant elderly population will have more widows. Arokiasamy said, “Definitely, TN and Kerala, and to an extent AP and Karnataka, have reached the last stage of the transition with low fertility and low mortality.”

2011: Households headed by women, state-wise

Sources: The Times of India, Apr 29 2015; Rema Nagarajan

The Times of India, Jun 06 2015

Women-headed households, state-wise; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, Apr 29 2015

Households headed by women, India: 2011; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India

Some facts, Graphic courtesy: India Today

Married women head 4% of families

Female-headed households form 34th of those led by a widowed person: Census

According to census 2011, a little over 13% of households in the country are headed by women.With about four in every ten houses headed by a women, Lakshadweep has the highest proportion of such households. It is followed by Kerala, Goa, Meghalaya and Himachal Pradesh. Apart from the matrilineal tradition, there are other social and economic reasons behind the presence of femaleheaded households. These include widowhood, divorce, separation, migration of male members for long periods and loss of economic ability of males because of disability

Among those currently married, barely 4% of all households are headed by women. In sharp contrast, women-headed households constitute nearly three-fourths of those headed by a widowed person, about two-thirds of those headed by people separated and about 60% among those who are divorced. Given the fact that women vastly outnumber men in each of these three categories, that's not surprising. Among the larger states, the proportion of womenheaded households in those who are currently married is the highest in Kerala (9.7%) followed by Himachal and Uttarakhand with 8% and 8.4%, respectively. This proportion is lowest in Gujarat, just 2%, followed by Delhi (2.3%) and West Bengal (2.5%). This was revealed in the latest census data on marital status, sex and age of household heads released. Over 70% of currently married men are household heads, compared to barely 3% of the married women the data showed.

Even among the women headed households, a significant chunk could be because the male members have migrated out for work, which would explain why a state like Uttarakhand has such a high proportion, though cultural factors could also be playing a role in states like Kerala and Meghalaya.

When households comprising married couples were grouped according to the age of the household head, the data showed an interesting pattern -women-headed households formed a larger proportion among households where the head was below 20 years of age. This proportion was 10.6% at the national level. The proportion of womenheaded households kept falling as the age of household heads increased till it touched 3.3% in the 50-59 age group.Beyond 59 years, the proportion of women-headed households rose slowly , till it touched 7% in the 80+ age group.

The pattern is repeated in almost every state, though the exact age group at which the declining trend reverses varies from state to state.

If smaller states are also counted, Meghalaya had the highest proportion of women-headed households (9.8%), marginally higher than Kerala, among those currently married. Kerala has the highest proportion of womenheaded households in the lower age groups. About 24% of households headed by people aged below 20 years are women-headed. This rises to 35% of households with heads aged 20-29, falls to 22% in the 30-39 age group and then keeps falling as the age of the household head increases.

Though the number of widowed men is much lower than widowed women, 70% of widowed men headed their households against only 51.7% of widowed women.This could mean that almost half the 43.3 million widowed women live as dependents.