Nuclear families reach 50% milestone in Indian households

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : Nuclear families comprised half of Indian households in 2022, up from 34% in 2008, signifying a major shift in the way families reside in small and large cities. This change in family structure has a bearing on future consumption as nuclear families tend to outspend joint families and experiment with more premium products, market researcher and insights provider Kantar said in a report. Nuclear families are better educated with 80% having some level of education.

They also have higher instances of working women—40% of women in such households are employed. Meanwhile, in urban markets, nuclear households enjoy similar levels of affluence to their joint family counterparts. As of 2022, India had 320 million households.

When it comes to consumption, such households also typically consume more and buy into more premium products, Kantar said. “Even though nuclear and joint families are of a similar socioeconomic profile, nuclear families are liberal in their consumption and spends," Kantar said as part of its Consumer Connections 2023 research. India has for long held close the joint family structure where generations of family members live together.

Social norms aside, such familial structures also thrive as households dip into a common pool of resources such as shared housing, food and childcare, among others. However, over the years, this structure has been slowly breaking down, giving way to nuclear families. As of 2022, a typical nuclear family in India had an average of three members as opposed to seven in a joint family setup.