Time Use in India-2019

The report follows the International Classification of Activities for Time Use Statistics 2016 – a statistical instrument developed by the United Nations – and groups activities into nine major divisions: employment and related activities; production of goods for own final use; unpaid domestic services for household members; unpaid caregiving services for household members; volunteer, trainee and other unpaid work; learning; socialising and communication, community participation and religious practice; culture, leisure, mass-media and sports practices; and self-care and maintenance.

The report defines ‘participation rate’ as the percentage of the population which undertakes a certain activity during the 24 hours of the reference period. The participation rate for employment – in corporate, government or non-profit institutions, or other activities – stands at 38.2 per cent. The average daily time spent on employment activities is 429 minutes.

There is a wide disparity between the participation rate in employment activities for males and females. In rural India, the daily rate is 19.2 per cent for females and 56.1 per cent for men. The employment participation rates in urban India are 16.7 per cent for females and 59.8 per cent for men.

The report contains data on the percentage share of a day’s time spent on ‘unpaid’, ‘paid’ and ‘other’ activities, by persons across age groups. It finds that males in the 15-59 year age group spend 5.1 per cent of their daily time on unpaid activities, 21.2 per cent on paid activities, and 73.8 per cent on other activities – such as learning, socialising, leisure and self-care.

Females in the 15-59 year age group spend 25.3 per cent of their daily time on unpaid activities, 4.7 per cent on paid activities, and 70 per cent on other ‘residual’ activities.

In the 15-29 years age group, females spent 25.9 per cent and males spent 19.5 per cent of their daily time on activities classified as ‘paid’ and ‘unpaid’ by this report. Among 15 to 59-year-olds, the rate was 30 per cent for females and 26.3 per cent for males. And among those over 60, the percentage was 19.4 per cent for females and 17.7 per cent for males.

The mean time spent in a day for activities related to self-care – sleeping, eating, personal hygiene and care – is 729 minutes for males and 723 minutes for females.

On average, the daily time spent in socialising, communication and related activities – such as talking, conversing, chatting, participating in community celebrations and religious practices – is 147 minutes for males and 139 minutes for females.

The report provides data on the percentage share of time spent on unpaid and paid activities, out of the total time spent on these activities. It states that females in rural India spend 85.2 per cent of this time on unpaid work, whereas males spend 26.5 per cent on the same. In rural areas, out of the total time spent on unpaid and paid activities, males spend 73.5 per cent and females spend 14.8 per cent on paid activities.

In urban areas, out of the total time spent on unpaid as well as paid activities, males spend 87.9 per cent of their time on paid activities. Conversely, females in urban areas spend as high as 82.9 per cent of this time on unpaid activities such as caregiving, volunteer work and domestic services.

 Focus and factoids by Gayatri Ailani.