Employment and Unemployment Situation among Religious Groups in India
1999-2000
NSS 55th ROUND
(July 1999 – June 2000)
National Sample Survey Organisation
Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation
Government of India
September 2001
Highlights
· During 1999-2000, information on religion followed by each household was collected. The religion of the head of the household was considered as the religion of all the household members irrespective of the actual religion followed by individual members. Seven main religions were identified in the survey. They were Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism. Among these the followers of Hinduism, Islam and Christianity formed the three major religious groups.
· The sex ratio was the highest among the Christians (1018 in rural and 1012 in urban areas) followed by the Muslims (990 in rural; 912 in urban) and the Hindus (952 in rural; 912 in urban).
· The size of an average Indian household was estimated as 5 in rural and 4.5 in urban areas. While the estimated average size of a Christian, Hindu and Muslim household was 4.4, 4.9 and 5.6 in rural areas, respectively. In urban areas, it was 3.8, 4.4 and 5.5, respectively.
· The proportion of persons belonging to the lowest three classes of monthly per capita expenditure (mpce) taken together was the highest among the Muslims (rural: 29%; urban: 40%) followed by the Hindus (rural: 26%; urban: 25%) and the Christians (rural: 19%; urban: 13%) in both rural and urban areas. On the other hand, proportion of persons in the highest three classes of mpce was the highest among the Christians (rural: 28%; urban: 29%) followed by the Hindus (rural: 14%; urban: 17%) and the Muslims (rural: 12%; urban: 6%).
· In rural areas, ‘self-employment’ was the mainstay for all the religious groups. Among self-employed, more households depended on agriculture. The proportion of rural labour households varied from 37% (Muslims) to 41% (Hindus). In urban areas, the proportion of households depend ing on ‘regular wage salary’ was high for the Christians (54%) and the Hindus (43%) whereas a majority of the Muslim households (52%) depended on ‘self-employment’ for their livelihood.
· The proportion of children was higher among the Muslims as compared to the Hindus and the Christians, and in that order, in both rural and urban areas. The share of aged population (60 years or more) was, however, the lowest among the Muslims and highest among the Christians.
· Among the three major religious groups, the Chr istians had the highest literary rate followed by the Hindus. As compared to the school attendance rates observed for 1993-94, the rates had increased for persons below 25 years among all the religious groups.
· The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) among the rural males was highest for the Christians (567) followed by the Hindus (537). For rural females, although the WPRs among the Christians and the Hindus were close to each other (about 32%), they were lower than the corresponding WPRs for males in their respective religious groups. The corresponding rates for the Muslims were considerably low both for males (478) and females (162). In urban India for the three major religious groups, the WPRs among the males varied between 486 to 525,. Further, WPRs were much higher among Christian women than among the Hindu and Muslim women.
· The unemployment rates were the highest among the Christians in both rural and urban areas. Among the Hindus the unemployment rates have remained at the same level as compared to the rates during 1993-94 in both rural and urban areas. Among the women in urban areas, the rates have increased for the Muslims but declined for the Christians.
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