How Youth in India Spend Time

Time Use Survey (TUS) plays a pivotal role in understanding how individuals across different age groups and gender participate in paid and unpaid activities.

- Amitava Saha & Gopal Saha

TUS data depicts how gender norms and societal roles influence the way men and women divide their time, both within the household and in broader society. Recognising the importance of unpaid work by women, the United Nations, in its 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development, has introduced an indicator for measuring the "proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, by sex, age, and location," to track progress towards gender equality and women empowerment.

Time use surveys in India: Two surveys on time use were conducted in India in 2019 and 2024. These surveys collected information on the activities of each household member aged six years and older over a 24-hour period—from 4:00 AM on the day before the interview until 4:00 AM on the day of the interview. Each of the surveys covered approximately 450,000 individuals, with around 60 per cent from rural and 40 per cent from urban areas, and estimated the average time spent per day by individuals across nine major activities.

Time use pattern of Indian youth: According to the National Youth Policy-2014, India has a significant "youth" population aged 15-29 years. The Technical Group on Population Projections estimated their number to be 370 million out of approximately 1.41 billion people in 2024. The sheer size of this population signifies the importance of studying their time use patterns.