India's 'partner-less' population shrinks; Tamil Nadu, Kerala buck the national trend (SRS 2024)

📌 Summary:

• Per the Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report 2024, the share of Indians who are widowed, divorced or separated (W/D/S) fell to 3.5% (2024) from 4.1% (2014).
• Sharpest declines: Uttarakhand (6.2% → 3.5%), Chhattisgarh (5.2% → 3.6%), Delhi (3.6% → 2.0%), Gujarat (4.8% → 3.1%), Bihar (2.3% → 1.5%, among the lowest).
• Regional divergence: Tamil Nadu recorded the highest W/D/S rate at 7.2% (up from 5.7%), and Kerala rose to 6.3% — the two southern states bucked the national declining trend; Telangana unchanged at 4.6%.
• Stark gender gap: living without a partner is overwhelmingly a female reality — 5.4% of women vs 1.6% of men (2024); a decade ago it was 6.5% of women vs 1.9% of men. Men who lose/divorce a spouse are far likelier to remarry; women bear the lifelong social and economic burden.
• Lowest W/D/S shares (2024): Bihar 1.5%, J&K 1.7%, Haryana 1.9%.

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS1 (Indian Society — demography, family structures, status of women, regional/north-south divergence); GS2 (welfare implications for widows/single women).

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Source: Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report 2024.
• National W/D/S share: 3.5% (2024) vs 4.1% (2014).
• W/D/S by gender (2024): women 5.4%, men 1.6%.
• Highest W/D/S: Tamil Nadu (7.2%); lowest: Bihar (1.5%).

🔑 Key Term: Sample Registration System (SRS) — a large-scale demographic survey by the Registrar General of India that provides reliable estimates of birth, death, fertility and related vital rates.