Childbearing pattern among working and non-working women in India

Working women in India in non-agricultural jobs have fewer children than non-working women, but are more likely to have girls, new data from the 2011 Census shows.

Data released by the Office of the Registrar General of India earlier this week shows that women age 15 and above in 2011 had 2.23 children on average. ‘Other workers’–meaning women who do not work in agriculture or household industries–had just 1.88 children on average. Women who worked for fewer than six months of the year–known as marginal workers–had 2.56 children on average, and those who did not work had 2.11 children on average. Among all work categories, women who work as cultivators have the highest fertility rates with 2.76 children on average.