Regional Variation of Household Size and Composition in India

Anticipating changes in the number, size and composition of households are an important element of many issues of social concern. To fulfil the objectives, three rounds of National Family Health Survey conducted in 1992-1993, 1998-1999 and 2005-2006 have been used. Over the time period there has been decline in the household size from 1992-1993 to 2005-2006. Different dimensions of household size and composition have been studied by considering size of the household, age composition, members’ relationship to head, household complexity, sex of head and household structure as well as association between household size and structure. The second part of the paper depicts that household size is lower in urban areas than in rural areas. Eventually it can be stated that number of children in the household has negative relation whereas number of adults in the household has positive relation with the wealth quintiles.