Women and Men in India 2023 (A Statistical Compilation of Gender related Indicators of India)

Age-Specific Fertility Rate (ASFR) is defined as “the number of live births in a specific age group of women per thousand female populations of that age group”. Among the age groups of 20 to 24 years and 25 to 29 years, the ASFR has reduced from 135.4 and 166 respectively to 113.6 and 139.6 between 2016 and 2020.

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is “the total number of infant deaths for every 1,000 live births.” Although female IMR has always been higher than male IMR, both have been decreasing over the years. In 2020, both were at an equal level of 28 deaths per 1000 live births. The report cites 2020 data from the Sample Registration System (SRS), Office of the Registrar General of India, to state that Kerala had the lowest IMR of 6 deaths per 1000 live births and Madhya Pradesh has the highest IMR of 43 per 1000.

Life expectancy at birth is the average number of years a person is expected to live under prevailing mortality conditions. As per SRS, life expectancy has been increasing since 1990 and during 2016-2020, it reached 68.6 and 71.4 years for men and women respectively. By 2031-36, it is projected to reach 71.2 among men and 74.7 years among women.

The under 5 mortality rate (U5MR) is the number of children who die before turning five years old. It is counted per 1000 live births. The U5MR has been shown to decrease from 43 deaths in 2015 to 32 in 2020.

According to the National Sample Survey data, the gender gap in literacy rate has fallen from 18.2 percentage points in 2007-08 to 14.4 percentage points in 2017-18. The gender gap was the lowest in Kerala at 2.2 points. And the Gender Parity Index which is measured as the gross enrolment ratio (GER) among girls to the GER among boys was highest in Chandigarh at the primary level, in Meghalaya at secondary and in Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu at the senior secondary level in 2021-22.

As per the Periodic Labour Force Survey, the male Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) has increased from 75.8 to 78.5 per cent during 2017-18 to 2022-23. During the same time, the female LFPR has risen from 23.3 to 37 per cent.

The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) in 2022-23 shows a stark disproportion between men and women workers. As per PLFS, the WPR for the rural male population was 54 per cent whereas it was 55.6 in the urban areas. The female WPR was notably lower at 30 per cent in rural and 18.7 per cent in urban areas.

According to the Lok Sabha secretariat, the percentage of women in the Central Council of Ministers has been fluctuating around 12 per cent, reaching its peak in 2015 with 17.7 per cent. The current percentage is 13.7.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has reported that the total number of women-led start-ups (where there is at least one women director) is 55,816 which comprises 47.6 per cent of the total start-ups recognised by the DPIIT since inception (Jan 2016) till December 2023. This underscores women’s participation in the country’s economic growth and a rise in their role as entrepreneurs.

Data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for the years 2017-2022 shows that ‘cruelty by husband and relatives’, ‘assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty’ and ‘kidnapping and abduction’ constituted more than 70 per cent of the all the major crimes committed against women.

According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), the percentage of women aged 20-24 years who married before the age of 18 years has decreased from 26.8 in NFHS-4 (2015-16) to 23.3 per cent in 2019-21.

NCRB recorded 14,409 cybercrimes against women in 2022. Karnataka (3,904) had the most number of crimes reported followed by Maharashtra (2,530), Telangana (1,262) and Uttar Pradesh (1,101).

Focus and Factoids by Soumita Saha.

PARI Library’s health archive project is part of an initiative supported by the Azim Premji University to develop a free-access repository of health-related reports relevant to rural India.