Family and Society · Sub-pillar 7.1

Family, children and elders

Changing family structures, falling birth rates, the protection of children from labour, early marriage and abuse, and care and respect for elders.

What is family, children and elders?

Family, children and elders is sub-pillar 7.1 of the 47 BH framework for a developed Bharat by 2047, the first of six sub-pillars under the Family and Society pillar. It asks how Indian families are changing, what falling birth rates mean, whether children are protected from labour, early marriage and abuse, and whether elders are cared for and respected.

Why it matters for 2047

The family is India's oldest institution and its largest welfare system. It raises children, cares for the old and sick, absorbs unemployment and lends to its members when no bank will. A developed Bharat that let the family weaken without building anything in its place would be poorer in ways no income measure captures.

India has crossed a line few noticed. Women now have fewer children on average than needed to replace the population, and in the richer states far fewer. Within two decades the question will no longer be too many children but too few workers for too many elders, and the choices families make now about marriage, children and care will shape 2047.

A country is judged by how it treats those who cannot protect themselves. Children still work, still marry before eighteen and still suffer abuse in numbers measured in lakhs, and a growing share of elders live alone or with no one to turn to. These are the measures on which Bharat's development will be most honestly tested.

Where India stands

  • 1.9

    children per woman was India's total fertility rate in 2023, below the replacement level of 2.1, ranging from 2.8 in Bihar to 1.2 in Delhi, according to the Sample Registration System; the National Family Health Survey 2023-24 puts it at 2.0.[1][2]

  • 20.1%

    of women aged 20 to 24 had been married before 18 in 2023-24, down from 23.3% in 2019-21, 26.8% in 2015-16 and 47.4% in 2005-06, according to the National Family Health Surveys.[3]

  • 1,87,702

    crimes against children were registered in 2024, up 5.9% on 2023, while crimes against senior citizens rose 16.9%, led by theft and fraud, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Census 2011 counted 43.53 lakh children aged 5 to 14 as main workers.[4][5]

  • 5.7%

    of Indians aged 60 and above lived alone, without family or friends, in the first Longitudinal Ageing Study of India, which also found about one in two elderly people living with a chronic disease; India's 60-plus share of population was 9.7% in 2024 and rising.[6][7]

Families are protecting children better than a generation ago. Child marriage has more than halved since 2005-06, child stunting has fallen to 29.3%, and fertility has settled below replacement, which means fewer children with more invested in each. [1][2][3] Most elders still live with family, and the share living alone is small by the standards of rich countries. [6]

The unfinished work is large. One young woman in five was still married as a child, nearly 1.9 lakh crimes against children were registered in a single year and the true number is higher, and the last census counted over 43 lakh children as full-time workers. [3][4][5] At the other end of life, crimes against the elderly are the fastest-growing category, and the elderly population will double in share within a generation while the families expected to care for them get smaller. [4][7]

A note on the numbers: fertility comes from the Sample Registration System and the NFHS, which differ slightly in method and year; child marriage is measured as the share of women aged 20 to 24 married before 18, so it lags events by several years; crimes against children and the elderly are police registrations and rise partly with reporting; child labour data are from the 2011 Census, since the 2021 Census was delayed, and the main-worker count excludes children who work part time; LASI fieldwork was in 2017-18 and the next wave is awaited.

On the 47 BH report card

Every 15 August, 47 BH reports how far India has come on each sub-pillar. For this sub-pillar, the headline indicators are:

  • Total fertility rate (Sample Registration System; NFHS).
  • Share of women aged 20-24 married before 18 (NFHS).
  • Children in work (Census; PLFS) and crimes against children (NCRB).
  • Share of elderly living alone or without support, and crimes against senior citizens (LASI; NCRB).

Two lenses on family, children and elders

City and village

47 BH asks whether a village family with four generations under one roof and a city family of two parents, one child and grandparents in another state are both able to raise children well and care for elders. Fertility is lowest in the cities and richest states; elders living alone are most common where children have migrated.

Learn, avoid, protect

Learn
What can India learn from countries that kept family life strong as they grew rich, that made childcare and elder care a shared public responsibility rather than a private burden on women, and that ended child labour and child marriage within a generation?
Avoid
Which mistakes should it avoid, such as assuming the family will cope with ageing without support, letting falling fertility become a crisis of care, or treating child protection as a matter of laws rather than of enforcement and reporting?
Protect
What of its own should it protect, such as the multi-generational household, the expectation that children care for parents, the extended networks of relatives that catch families when they fall, and the festivals and rituals that bring generations together?

What this sub-pillar does not cover

Each topic has one home in the framework. These related topics sit elsewhere:

Questions about family, children and elders

What is India's fertility rate?

1.9 children per woman in 2023 according to the Sample Registration System, below the replacement level of 2.1, ranging from 2.8 in Bihar to 1.2 in Delhi; the National Family Health Survey 2023-24 puts it at 2.0. [1][2]

How common is child marriage in India?

20.1% of women aged 20 to 24 were married before 18 in 2023-24, down from 23.3% in 2019-21 and 47.4% in 2005-06, according to the National Family Health Surveys. [3]

How many children work in India?

The 2011 Census counted 43.53 lakh children aged 5 to 14 as main workers, according to a Lok Sabha reply; no later census count exists. Crimes against children registered by the police reached 1,87,702 in 2024, up 5.9%. [4][5]

How many elderly Indians live alone?

5.7% of those aged 60 and above, according to the Longitudinal Ageing Study of India (fieldwork 2017-18). The 60-plus share of the population was 9.7% in 2024 and is projected to keep rising. [6][7]

Why is the family a development question?

Because it does more of the work of raising, caring and protecting than any government programme, and because its shape is changing fast. A developed Bharat needs families that can still do that work, and a state that steps in where they cannot.

Sources

  1. Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, "Sample Registration System Statistical Report 2023", September 2025; headline figures as summarised by Drishti IAS. https://www.drishtiias.com/pdf/1757151696.pdf
  2. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, "Union Health Ministry Releases National Family Health Survey - 6", Press Information Bureau, 29 May 2026. NFHS-6 was conducted in 2023-24; NFHS-5 in 2019-21. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2266600&reg=3&lang=1
  3. National Family Health Survey-6 (2023-24) findings on child marriage and spousal violence, as reported by HumanProgress citing The Economic Times, 2026. https://humanprogress.org/india-records-progress-against-child-marriage-gender-violence/
  4. National Crime Records Bureau, "Crime in India 2024", 2026; figures on crimes against children, senior citizens and Scheduled Castes and Tribes as summarised by Khan Global Studies. Report: ncrb.gov.in/crime-in-india.html. https://currentaffairs.khanglobalstudies.com/crime-in-india-2024-report/
  5. Ministry of Women and Child Development, Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3103 on child labour (Census 2011 main workers aged 5-14), answered 6 December 2019. https://eparlib.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/959144/1/AU3103.pdf
  6. Longitudinal Ageing Study of India, Wave 1 (fieldwork 2017-18), released January 2021; living arrangements as reported by Down To Earth. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/health/lonely-twilight-highest-rate-of-seniors-living-alone-in-tamil-nadu-nagaland-75346
  7. Press Information Bureau, "Elderly in India: Population, Challenges, and Government Initiatives", backgrounder, 28 October 2025, citing the Technical Group on Population Projections and LASI. https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2025/oct/doc20251028678601.pdf

47 BH cites every figure so that it can be checked. If you find an error, it will be corrected openly and the date below will change.

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