India's Periodic Labour Force Survey is a vital source of employment data, and drives research and policy. We track changes in its methodology and their implications, key uses of the dataset, and important debates around its methodology and findings.
Factories in India are concentrated regionally. While food products, textile and apparel are the biggest employers, the manufacture of metals drives value added. Each of these industries has its own regional hubs.
Household ownership of computers in India remains low, particularly in rural India. The share of Indian adults who report being able to use a computer is also growing very slowly.
India's 200,000 factories employ 18.5 million workers and are significant contributors to the economy. We look at where they are, what they produce and whom them employ.
The share of women in manufacturing jobs in India has risen, propelled by the apparel and textile sectors. Yet, women's manufacturing jobs are more precarious and secure jobs are relatively rare.
Capturing the true situation of manufacturing employment in India is a vital part of understanding its economy. We examine the implications of using different data sources to track manufacturing.
Inflation in India - the rate at which the general prices of goods and services rise - is now relatively low and steady. However, parts of the household budget are sometimes affected by price spikes, which can dent the purchasing power of families.
Indian children are among the shortest in the world. While the rates of child stunting have declined over time, a substantial share of Indian children, especially in poorer states and among marginalised groups, are stunted.
Global growth standards used to define the levels of child stunting in India have been contentious. While a substantial body of research shows that the standards are not inaccurate, more context-specific growth references could also be useful.
Over the last two decades, India has seen a decline in the use of traditional modes of payments, like cash and cheques, and an explosion in the use of digital modes of payments. However, inequities in access remain a concern.
Accurate estimations of demographic trends are vital for planning. India has both a direct and an indirect system to count births and deaths. How did they develop, what works and doesn't, and how can they be improved?
Indians are consuming more dairy, and spending more of their food budgets on dairy products. But wealth affects consumption and gender gaps persist.
The self-employed make up the majority of the Indian workforce. But self-employment plays out in different ways among men and women, and between rural and urban India.
The 2022-23 and 2023-24 rounds of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey appeared to show large, unexplained deviations on several important indicators. Our research identifies the error that drove those swings.
The ownership of assets is one way to understand living standards in a country. In India, TVs are the most commonly owned of four key assets.
Most Indians eat meat, and the share who eat meat is growing over time. Vegetarianism is more prevalent in some states and among some groups.
Population
Indians now make up the largest group of emigrants in the world, but their destination countries have changed significantly over time.
Economy
Nearly everyone in India now has a bank account. However, some gender gaps remain, and not everyone with an account uses it.
Measurement
How the NFHS has evolved over time, how it collects its data, and key discussions and debates around it.
Work
After being low by global standards for decades, and falling further since the mid 2000s, the share of Indian women who are in the labour force has increased. We examine the parts of the workforce and the economy where these changes have occurred.
Health
Road accidents are now the leading cause of death among young men in particular. Two-wheeler riders are at particular risk, and traffic violations play a major role.
Measurement
By official statistics, India has the largest number of reported deaths from road accidents of any country. But these are likely significant underestimates.
Population
Whether in the north or the south, Indian states are all seeing their populations begin to age. However over a decade separates India's youngest and oldest states, and the southern states are already seeing a shrinking working-age population.
Measurement
The National Family Health Survey consistently underestimates the proportion of young males and elderly females in India's population. Estimates of the sex ratio from the NFHS need to be used with caution.
Measurement
Literacy rates are rising fast in India. But how literacy is defined matters, as does the manner in which surveys on literacy are conducted, resulting in some illiterate people being missed from official statistics.
Health
India has made large strides in reducing the annual incidence of malaria and deaths from the disease. However, malaria remains a major public health challenge, particularly in central and eastern states, and among young children.
Measurement
Accurately estimating the incidence and mortality from diseases in India, including malaria, is challenging. We lay out the available data sources and explain our reasons behind using selected sources.
Living Conditions
Most Indians can send messages, but far fewer have the information and communications technology (ICT) skills needed to do calculations, make presentations or write code. There are large gaps between rural and urban Indians, and between men and women.
Measurement
Between censuses, and to plan for the future, countries rely on population projections. Understanding how these projections are made, as well as their past successes and failures, is vital.
Economy
India's states differ from each other not only in the sizes of their populations, but also in the sizes of their economies. While all states are growing, the rate of growth varies significantly between regions.
Living Conditions
India has made major strides in improving sanitation, but one in four rural households still does not have access to toilets.
Health
From having maternal mortality rates well above the world average two decades ago, India has seen a sharp fall in the risk of death during pregnancy. Yet, regional disparities exist, and India is some distance from meeting international commitments.
