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Official evidence · January–December 2024; diary reference day

Unpaid housework, care and time use in India

A diary records work that employment statistics can miss. Among people aged 15–59, 92.9% of women and 30.4% of men participated in unpaid domestic services on the reference day. Among those who participated, women spent 305 minutes and men 86 minutes. These are daily survey estimates; they are not annual hours or a measure of how many people have a paid job.

National Statistics Office, MoSPI / Press Information Bureau · Source checked 2026-10-14

The tables deliberately keep participation, minutes per participant and minutes per person separate. The last measure includes non-participants and is appropriate for viewing the average daily allocation across the represented population. Ages 15–29 sit inside ages 15–59, so those columns cannot be added. Small departures from 1,440 total minutes in per-person rows come from published rounding, rather than missing time.

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Participation on a day, by activity, sex and age (%)
Sex	Activity	15–29 years	15–59 years	60 years and above
Male	Employment and related activities	56.3	75	48.1
Male	Production of goods for own final use	9.7	14.1	19.5
Male	Unpaid domestic services for household members	25.9	30.4	34
Male	Unpaid caregiving services for household members	14	21.4	14.1
Male	Unpaid volunteer, trainee and other unpaid work	0.8	0.8	2.1
Male	Learning	31.9	13	0.1
Male	Socializing and communication, community participation and religious practice	90.3	92.8	96.8
Male	Culture, leisure, mass-media and sports practices	96	94.6	94.8
Male	Self-care and maintenance	100	100	100
Female	Employment and related activities	14.9	25	16.4
Female	Production of goods for own final use	17.6	23.6	22.1
Female	Unpaid domestic services for household members	86.2	92.9	80.6
Female	Unpaid caregiving services for household members	45.6	41	21.7
Female	Unpaid volunteer, trainee and other unpaid work	0.8	1.1	2.2
Female	Learning	27.1	11.2	0.1
Female	Socializing and communication, community participation and religious practice	90.9	93	97.2
Female	Culture, leisure, mass-media and sports practices	89.9	89.2	92.3
Female	Self-care and maintenance	100	100	100
Person	Employment and related activities	35.3	49.9	32.3
Person	Production of goods for own final use	13.7	18.8	20.8
Person	Unpaid domestic services for household members	56.4	61.7	57.2
Person	Unpaid caregiving services for household members	30	31.3	17.9
Person	Unpaid volunteer, trainee and other unpaid work	0.8	1	2.1
Person	Learning	29.5	12.1	0.1
Person	Socializing and communication, community participation and religious practice	90.6	92.9	97
Person	Culture, leisure, mass-media and sports practices	92.9	91.9	93.6
Person	Self-care and maintenance	100	100	100

Unit: percent of persons. Population / universe: All-India represented persons of the sex and age group labelled; participant minutes condition on doing the labelled activity. Sample-survey estimates. Participation means doing an activity on the reference day. Per-participant minutes exclude people who did not do the activity; per-person minutes include them. Employment-related participation is not the PLFS labour-force rate. Age groups 15–29 and 15–59 overlap and must not be added. Total per-person minutes can differ from 1440 from rounding. Activity classification and treatment of simultaneous activities belong to the report; these records do not add participant durations to infer a daily budget.

Reference: January–December 2024; diary reference day. Locator: Table 1. Checked 2026-10-14.

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Daily minutes per participant, by activity, sex and age
Sex	Activity	15–29 years	15–59 years	60 years and above
Male	Employment and related activities	477	480	408
Male	Production of goods for own final use	118	133	159
Male	Unpaid domestic services for household members	87	86	100
Male	Unpaid caregiving services for household members	77	74	84
Male	Unpaid volunteer, trainee and other unpaid work	167	150	119
Male	Learning	427	422	78
Male	Socializing and communication, community participation and religious practice	131	135	199
Male	Culture, leisure, mass-media and sports practices	184	156	220
Male	Self-care and maintenance	694	690	764
Female	Employment and related activities	338	344	317
Female	Production of goods for own final use	87	103	111
Female	Unpaid domestic services for household members	280	305	227
Female	Unpaid caregiving services for household members	164	140	117
Female	Unpaid volunteer, trainee and other unpaid work	113	111	104
Female	Learning	417	412	63
Female	Socializing and communication, community participation and religious practice	124	135	198
Female	Culture, leisure, mass-media and sports practices	152	145	206
Female	Self-care and maintenance	695	686	771
Person	Employment and related activities	448	446	385
Person	Production of goods for own final use	98	114	133
Person	Unpaid domestic services for household members	237	251	189
Person	Unpaid caregiving services for household members	144	118	104
Person	Unpaid volunteer, trainee and other unpaid work	138	127	111
Person	Learning	422	417	72
Person	Socializing and communication, community participation and religious practice	127	135	198
Person	Culture, leisure, mass-media and sports practices	168	151	213
Person	Self-care and maintenance	694	688	767

Unit: minutes per day per participant. Population / universe: All-India represented persons of the sex and age group labelled; participant minutes condition on doing the labelled activity. Sample-survey estimates. Participation means doing an activity on the reference day. Per-participant minutes exclude people who did not do the activity; per-person minutes include them. Employment-related participation is not the PLFS labour-force rate. Age groups 15–29 and 15–59 overlap and must not be added. Total per-person minutes can differ from 1440 from rounding. Activity classification and treatment of simultaneous activities belong to the report; these records do not add participant durations to infer a daily budget.

Reference: January–December 2024; diary reference day. Locator: Table 2. Checked 2026-10-14.

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Daily minutes per person, by activity, sex and age
Sex	Activity	15–29 years	15–59 years	60 years and above
Male	Employment and related activities	269	360	196
Male	Production of goods for own final use	12	19	31
Male	Unpaid domestic services for household members	23	26	34
Male	Unpaid caregiving services for household members	11	16	12
Male	Unpaid volunteer, trainee and other unpaid work	1	1	2
Male	Learning	136	55	0
Male	Socializing and communication, community participation and religious practice	118	125	193
Male	Culture, leisure, mass-media and sports practices	177	148	208
Male	Self-care and maintenance	694	690	764
Male	Total	1,440	1,440	1,440
Female	Employment and related activities	50	86	52
Female	Production of goods for own final use	15	24	24
Female	Unpaid domestic services for household members	242	283	183
Female	Unpaid caregiving services for household members	75	58	25
Female	Unpaid volunteer, trainee and other unpaid work	1	1	2
Female	Learning	113	46	0
Female	Socializing and communication, community participation and religious practice	113	126	192
Female	Culture, leisure, mass-media and sports practices	136	129	190
Female	Self-care and maintenance	695	686	771
Female	Total	1,440	1,440	1,440
Person	Employment and related activities	158	223	124
Person	Production of goods for own final use	13	21	28
Person	Unpaid domestic services for household members	134	155	108
Person	Unpaid caregiving services for household members	43	37	19
Person	Unpaid volunteer, trainee and other unpaid work	1	1	2
Person	Learning	124	50	0
Person	Socializing and communication, community participation and religious practice	116	126	192
Person	Culture, leisure, mass-media and sports practices	156	139	199
Person	Self-care and maintenance	694	688	767
Person	Total	1,440	1,440	1,440

Unit: minutes per day per person. Population / universe: All-India represented persons of the sex and age group labelled; participant minutes condition on doing the labelled activity. Sample-survey estimates. Participation means doing an activity on the reference day. Per-participant minutes exclude people who did not do the activity; per-person minutes include them. Employment-related participation is not the PLFS labour-force rate. Age groups 15–29 and 15–59 overlap and must not be added. Total per-person minutes can differ from 1440 from rounding. Activity classification and treatment of simultaneous activities belong to the report; these records do not add participant durations to infer a daily budget.

Reference: January–December 2024; diary reference day. Locator: Table 3. Checked 2026-10-14.

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These tables are historical observations or survey-period estimates. They are not a live feed or a forecast. Keep the population group, unit and reference period with every reused figure.