Modernisation, demographic change and state-level variations in household composition in India

Abstract

This study examines whether modernisation and demographic change explain subnational household variations in India using state-level data from six rounds of the National Sample Survey harmonised by IPUMS-International. Results highlight significant regional differences in living arrangements, mainly between south India, where joint households are rare, and selected states located in the Indo-Gangetic Plain, where joint households are most prevalent. Key indicators of modernisation (urbanisation, occupational diversification, educational expansion) and demographic change explain roughly half of these differences, although modernisation indicators have a much weaker explanatory power than demographic ones. Further analyses show that men's rising age at marriage is linked to a modest increase in nuclear households, whereas educational expansion may have hindered this increase. These findings support the claim that the preference for joint households has long been considerably weaker – if at all present – in selected southern states, a nuance largely ignored in explanations of household change in India.

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