Age at marriage by sex and state, the child marriage trend, arranged against love marriage, inter-caste and inter-religion unions, divorce and separation, dowry cases, court pendency and the rules for registering a marriage.
Key takeaways
The mean age at effective marriage for Indian women was 22.7 years in 2020, up from 22.1 years in 2017.
The median age at first marriage for Indian women aged 25 to 49 was 18.9 years in NFHS-5 (2019-21).
The median age at first marriage for Indian men aged 25 to 49 was 24.9 years in NFHS-5, against 24.5 in NFHS-4 and 23.0 in NFHS-3.
23.3% of Indian women aged 20 to 24 were married before 18 in NFHS-5 (2019-21), down from 26.8% in NFHS-4 (2015-16).
West Bengal had the highest share of women aged 20 to 24 married before 18 in NFHS-5, 41.6%.
Only 5% of married women in NCAER’s 2011 to 2012 pan-India survey said theirs was an inter-caste marriage.
Around 18% of married women in the NCAER survey had met their husband before the wedding.
99% of married Indians report that their spouse shares their religion, according to Pew Research Center.
64% of Indians say it is very important to stop women in their community from marrying into other castes, and 62% say the same for men.
0.3% of Indian women aged 15 to 49 were divorced at the time of NFHS-5, 0.8% were separated and 3.1% were widowed.
6,156 people lost their lives in dowry death cases in India in 2023, as reported by PTI from NCRB’s Crime in India 2023.
4,43,45,599 cases were pending in India’s district and subordinate courts on 31 December 2025.
Under the Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code Rules 2025 a marriage solemnised after the Code commenced must be registered within sixty days of the marriage.
In February 2024 the Law Commission of India recommended that registration of marriages involving NRIs and OCIs be made compulsory, with non-registration an offence.
At what age do Indians marry?
The mean age at effective marriage for Indian women was 22.7 years in 2020, up from 22.1 years in 2017.
Source: MoSPI, Women and Men in India 2023, health chapter (SRS data), August 2024. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
The SRS mean is the average age of women marrying in that year. The NFHS median is the age by which half of all women aged 25 to 49 had married, which includes marriages from decades earlier, so it sits lower.
- Urban Indian women married at a mean age of 23.9 years in 2020, against 22.2 years for rural women.
- The median age at first marriage for Indian women aged 25 to 49 was 18.9 years in NFHS-5 (2019-21).
- The median age at first marriage for Indian men aged 25 to 49 was 24.9 years in NFHS-5, against 24.5 in NFHS-4 and 23.0 in NFHS-3.
- 87.6% of Indian women aged 25 to 49 had married by age 25 in NFHS-5, against 50.7% of men.
- 40.1% of Indian women aged 25 to 49 had married before 18 in NFHS-5, down from 56.7% in NFHS-3 (2005-06).
Which states marry latest and earliest?
Jammu and Kashmir had the highest female mean age at marriage among major states in 2020, 26.0 years.
Source: MoSPI, Women and Men in India 2023, health chapter (SRS data), August 2024. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
See these figures as a table
| Item | Years |
|---|---|
| Jammu and Kashmir | 26.0 |
| Delhi | 24.4 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 24.1 |
| Maharashtra | 23.7 |
| Gujarat | 23.6 |
| Tamil Nadu | 23.5 |
| Kerala | 23.4 |
| Haryana | 23.3 |
| India | 22.7 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 22.5 |
| Bihar | 22.2 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 21.8 |
| West Bengal | 21.0 |
- Delhi and Punjab followed at 24.4 years each in 2020.
- Himachal Pradesh recorded 24.1 years in 2020.
- Maharashtra recorded 23.7 years in 2020.
- Gujarat recorded 23.6 years in 2020.
- Tamil Nadu recorded 23.5 years in 2020.
- Kerala recorded 23.4 years in 2020.
- Haryana recorded 23.3 years in 2020.
- Uttar Pradesh recorded 22.5 years in 2020.
- Bihar recorded 22.2 years in 2020.
- Madhya Pradesh recorded 21.8 years in 2020.
- West Bengal and Jharkhand had the lowest female mean age at marriage among major states in 2020, 21.0 years each.
- Nagaland (23.9 years), Ladakh (23.8), Jammu and Kashmir (23.6), Manipur (23.5) and Mizoram (23.4) had the highest median ages at first marriage for women aged 25 to 49 in NFHS-5.
- Bihar (17.5 years), West Bengal (17.6), Telangana (17.7) and Andhra Pradesh (17.8) had the lowest median ages at first marriage for women in NFHS-5.
How common is child marriage in India now?
23.3% of Indian women aged 20 to 24 were married before 18 in NFHS-5 (2019-21), down from 26.8% in NFHS-4 (2015-16).
Source: IIPS and MoHFW, NFHS-5 (2019-21) India and Phase II state fact sheets, via The DHS Program, 24 November 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
See these figures as a table
| Item | Percent |
|---|---|
| 2005-06 | 44.5 |
| 2015-16 | 25.3 |
| 2019-21 | 22.3 |
- Child marriage is almost twice as common in rural India: 27.0% of rural women aged 20 to 24 married before 18, against 14.7% in urban areas.
- 17.7% of Indian men aged 25 to 29 were married before 21 in NFHS-5, down from 20.3% in NFHS-4.
- 6.8% of women aged 15 to 19 were already mothers or pregnant at the time of NFHS-5, down from 7.9% in NFHS-4.
- The share of women aged 20 to 24 married before 18 fell from 44.5% in NFHS-3 (2005-06) to 25.3% in NFHS-4 and 22.3% in NFHS-5 on the DHS Program’s recode.
- The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 sets the minimum age of marriage at 18 for women and 21 for men.
- The Sarda Act of 1929 set the minimum marriage age at 14 for girls and 18 for boys; a 1978 amendment raised it to 18 for girls and 21 for boys.
- The Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat campaign focuses on 257 high-burden districts where child marriage prevalence is at or above the national average.
- The campaign aims to cut child marriage prevalence by 10% by 2026 and make India child-marriage free by 2030.
Where is child marriage most common?
West Bengal had the highest share of women aged 20 to 24 married before 18 in NFHS-5, 41.6%.
Source: IIPS and MoHFW, NFHS-5 (2019-21) Phase I state fact sheets, via The DHS Program, 15 December 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
See these figures as a table
| Item | Percent |
|---|---|
| West Bengal | 41.6 |
| Bihar | 40.8 |
| Tripura | 40.1 |
| Jharkhand | 32.2 |
| Assam | 31.8 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 29.3 |
| Rajasthan | 25.4 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 23.1 |
| Maharashtra | 21.9 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 15.8 |
| Delhi | 9.9 |
| Punjab | 8.7 |
| Kerala | 6.3 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 5.4 |
- Bihar recorded 40.8% of women aged 20 to 24 married before 18.
- Tripura recorded 40.1%.
- Jharkhand recorded 32.2%.
- Assam recorded 31.8%.
- Andhra Pradesh recorded 29.3%.
- Rajasthan recorded 25.4%, down from 35.4% in NFHS-4.
- Madhya Pradesh recorded 23.1%.
- Maharashtra recorded 21.9%.
- Uttar Pradesh recorded 15.8%.
- NCT Delhi recorded 9.9%.
- Punjab recorded 8.7%.
- Kerala recorded 6.3%.
- Himachal Pradesh recorded 5.4% and Jammu and Kashmir 4.5%.
- Ladakh (2.5%) and Lakshadweep (1.3%) recorded the lowest shares of women aged 20 to 24 married before 18.
How many Indian marriages are arranged?
An ICRW and UNFPA survey of 9,205 men and 3,158 women in eight states found nearly 90% of marriages were arranged.
Source: NCAER, Arranging a marriage: how India does it (NCAER 2011-12 survey), 19 November 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
No census or national survey counts love marriages. The figures above come from the two largest surveys that asked who chose the spouse and whether the couple had met.
- Only 5% of married women in NCAER’s 2011 to 2012 pan-India survey said theirs was an inter-caste marriage.
- Around 18% of married women in the NCAER survey had met their husband before the wedding.
- 60% of women in the NCAER survey said they had a say in their own marriage.
- Himachal Pradesh (56%), the north-eastern states (50%) and Kerala (40%) had the highest shares of women who had met their husband before marriage.
How common are inter-caste and inter-religious marriages?
99% of married Indians report that their spouse shares their religion, according to Pew Research Center.
Source: Pew Research Center, Religion in India, chapter on religious segregation, 29 June 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
- Less than 1% of Indian marriages are with a spouse who was raised in a different religion.
- Spouses share a religion in 99% of Hindu marriages, 98% of Muslim marriages, 95% of Christian marriages and 97% of Sikh and Buddhist marriages.
- 64% of Indians say it is very important to stop women in their community from marrying into other castes, and 62% say the same for men.
- 67% of Indians say stopping inter-religious marriage of women is a high priority, and 65% say so for men.
- Roughly two-thirds of Hindus want to prevent inter-religious marriages of Hindu women (67%) or Hindu men (65%).
- 80% of Muslims say it is very important to stop Muslim women from marrying outside their religion, and 76% say so for Muslim men.
- Among Christians, 37% say it is very important to stop inter-religious marriage of women, and among Buddhists 46%.
- Pew’s India survey interviewed almost 30,000 adults face to face between 17 November 2019 and 23 March 2020.
What is the divorce rate in India?
0.3% of Indian women aged 15 to 49 were divorced at the time of NFHS-5, 0.8% were separated and 3.1% were widowed.
Source: The DHS Program API, NFHS-5 (2019-21), 24 November 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
India publishes no annual divorce rate. The shares above are from the national health survey, which records current marital status for people aged 15 to 49.
- 0.3% of Indian men aged 15 to 49 were divorced at the time of NFHS-5, 0.4% were separated and 0.5% were widowed.
- 23.8% of Indian women aged 15 to 49 had never married at the time of NFHS-5, and 72.0% were currently married.
- 39.2% of Indian men aged 15 to 49 had never married at the time of NFHS-5.
- The share of women aged 15 to 49 who were divorced was 0.3% in each of NFHS-3, NFHS-4 and NFHS-5, while the separated share fell from 1.2% in NFHS-3 to 0.8% in NFHS-5.
How common are second marriages?
No Indian survey publishes a national count of second marriages, so the only measured view is the pool of people who could remarry: the divorced, separated and widowed shares in the section above.
How many dowry cases does India record?
6,156 people lost their lives in dowry death cases in India in 2023, as reported by PTI from NCRB’s Crime in India 2023.
Source: NCRB, Crime in India 2023, as reported by PTI in ThePrint, 1 October 2025. Retrieved 14 October 2026. Cited as reported; the original is not public.
- 15,489 cases were registered under the Dowry Prohibition Act in 2023, up from 13,479 in 2022 and 13,568 in 2021, as reported by PTI.
- Uttar Pradesh (7,151), Bihar (3,665) and Karnataka (2,322) registered the most Dowry Prohibition Act cases in 2023, as reported by PTI.
- Uttar Pradesh recorded 2,122 dowry deaths in 2023 and Bihar 1,143, as reported by PTI.
- 833 murder cases with dowry as the motive were recorded in 2023, as reported by PTI.
- 83,327 dowry cases were up for trial in 2023, 69,434 of them carried forward from earlier years, as reported by PTI.
- India recorded 4,45,256 crimes against women in 2022 and 4,28,278 in 2021, the Ministry of Women and Child Development told Parliament citing NCRB.
How long do matrimonial cases wait in India’s courts?
4,43,45,599 cases were pending in India’s district and subordinate courts on 31 December 2025.
Source: Department of Justice, year-end review 2025 (PIB), 7 January 2026. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
The National Judicial Data Grid does not publish family court pendency as a separate national total, so the figures above are for all district and subordinate courts, where family courts sit.
- 63,70,904 cases were pending in the High Courts and 92,118 in the Supreme Court on 31 December 2025.
- About 92.08 lakh cases have been filed electronically and over 3.91 crore virtual hearings held since the Covid lockdown, the Department of Justice reported.
- Under section 3(1)(a) of the Family Courts Act a family court must be set up for every area whose population exceeds one million.
- Video conferencing facilities had been enabled in 3,240 court complexes and 1,272 jails by 31 December 2025, with 228.48 crore rupees earmarked for the upgrade.
- The National Judicial Data Grid showed 5,15,01,474 cases pending in district courts on 14 October 2026, 59.82% of them more than a year old.
What are the rules for registering a marriage?
Under the Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code Rules 2025 a marriage solemnised after the Code commenced must be registered within sixty days of the marriage.
Source: Government of Uttarakhand, Uniform Civil Code Rules 2025, January 2025. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
Registration is a state subject and the rules differ by state and by personal law. Uttarakhand is shown because its 2025 rules are the most recent published deadline; most other state portals could not be opened for verification on 14 October 2026.
- Marriages in Uttarakhand solemnised between 26 March 2010 and the Code’s commencement had six months from commencement to register.
- A couple who miss the Uttarakhand deadline receive a notice and have thirty days to file the memorandum with reasons, after which a penalty set by the State Government applies.
- In February 2024 the Law Commission of India recommended that registration of marriages involving NRIs and OCIs be made compulsory, with non-registration an offence.
- The Law Commission found the 2019 NRI marriages Bill too narrow and said its 30-day registration deadline should be replaced with a reasonable time limit.
- The Ministry of External Affairs received 1,022 petitions about NRI marital disputes in 2017, after 1,510 in 2016 and 796 in 2015.
- Indian missions abroad received 3,328 complaints from Indian women about matrimonial disputes with NRI spouses between 2015 and 2017.
- The National Commission for Women launched an NRI Cell for such complaints in 2012.
How to cite this page
Suggested citation:
Evara Matrimony (2026). Marriage in India Statistics 2026. https://evaramatrimony.com/statistics/marriage-in-india
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Methodology
This page holds 84 statistics from 25 source pages. 78 come from the organisation that produced the number (92.9%) and 6 are cited as reported because the original is not public. The oldest source is dated 19 November 2014 and the newest 14 October 2026. Every source was read on 14 October 2026.
Each statistic was traced to the organisation that produced it: the National Family Health Survey (IIPS and the Ministry of Health, read from the official fact sheets and from The DHS Program’s own API), the Sample Registration System as published by MoSPI, Pew Research Center, NCAER, the Press Information Bureau for ministry and Department of Justice figures, the Law Commission of India, the Government of Uttarakhand and the National Judicial Data Grid.
NFHS figures come in two forms. The official fact sheets give the headline indicators, and The DHS Program API gives the same survey’s recoded indicators, which can differ by a point from the fact sheet because of how the recode weights the sample. Each row says which it used.
NCRB’s Crime in India 2023 is public, but the bureau’s website listed no files for the year when it was opened on 14 October 2026, so its dowry figures are marked secondary and attributed to the PTI report that carried them.
Every source page was opened on 14 October 2026 and the number confirmed on it. A script re-fetches every source and checks the number is still there; sources that block automated requests are noted rather than passed silently.
Sources
- MoSPI, Women and Men in India 2023, health chapter (SRS data)
- The DHS Program API, NFHS-5 (2019-21)
- The DHS Program API, NFHS-3 (2005-06) and NFHS-4 (2015-16)
- The DHS Program API, NFHS-5 (2019-21)
- The DHS Program API, NFHS-3 (2005-06) and NFHS-4 (2015-16)
- The DHS Program API, NFHS-5 (2019-21)
- IIPS and MoHFW, NFHS-5 (2019-21) India and Phase II state fact sheets, via The DHS Program
- The DHS Program API, NFHS-3 (2005-06) and NFHS-4 (2015-16)
- IIPS and MoHFW, NFHS-5 (2019-21) Phase I state fact sheets, via The DHS Program
- PIB backgrounder, Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat
- NCAER, Arranging a marriage: how India does it (NCAER 2011-12 survey)
- Pew Research Center, Religion in India, chapter on religious segregation
- Pew Research Center, Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation
- The DHS Program API, NFHS-5 (2019-21)
- The DHS Program API, NFHS-5 (2019-21)
- The DHS Program API, NFHS-5 (2019-21)
- The DHS Program API, NFHS-5 (2019-21)
- The DHS Program API, NFHS-3 (2005-06) and NFHS-4 (2015-16)
- NCRB, Crime in India 2023, as reported by PTI in ThePrint
- Ministry of Women and Child Development, PIB release citing NCRB
- Department of Justice, year-end review 2025 (PIB)
- Ministry of Law and Justice, Lok Sabha reply on video conferencing in family courts (PIB)
- National Judicial Data Grid, district courts dashboard (live)
- Government of Uttarakhand, Uniform Civil Code Rules 2025
- Law Commission of India, Report No. 287