Economy
How Indians spend their time in a day, in 4 charts
Summary
- Indians are spending lesser time on activities such as sleeping and personal hygiene, and more at work and socializing. Meanwhile, women continue to shoulder unpaid work far more than men. Here is what the statistics ministry's latest Time Use Survey reveals.
Indian women continue to dedicate far more time on unpaid work such as domestic chores and caregiving as compared with men, show the latest Time Use Survey (TUS) data published by the statistics ministry.
While women dedicate nearly a fifth of their time (19.8%) to unpaid housework, men spend only 3% of the time in a day on similar activities.
Instead, men spend a fifth of their time (20.3%) on socializing and leisure and an almost similar amount of time (19.9%) on employment and related activities.
The survey, which sheds light on how Indians spend their day, was released on Tuesday. India conducted its first TUS in 2019.
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Economists have flagged that the disproportionate time spent by women on household chores could impact the time they can dedicate to pursuing work-related opportunities. The survey bears this out. Women spend just 5% of their time on employment.
When it comes to participation in different activities, over 80% of women do unpaid work, while only 27% of men do such work. The gender gap is reversed when it comes to employment and related activities—61% of men as opposed to only 21% of women.
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Self-care and socialising
Roughly half the time for an average Indian goes on ‘self-care’, which includes sleeping, eating and personal hygiene.
However, the time spent on such activities has seen a marginal decline between 2019 and 2024: 49.2% in 2024 compared to 50.4% five years ago. During this period, the time spent by Indians on socializing and employment has gone up a percentage point respectively, the survey shows.
A rural-urban divide
A rural-urban break-up shows that urban Indians end up spending more time on employment and leisure-related activities compared to their rural counterparts. While urban Indians spend nearly 14% of their time on the job, the figure stands at 12% for rural Indians.
India is among a few countries, including Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the US and China, to conduct this survey, the statistics ministry said.
The survey’s findings help understand the participation and time spent on unpaid and paid activities by men and women. This, in turn, helps in formulation of policies particularly around boosting women’s formal participation in the labour force, which remains low in India.
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