The big Indian family breaks up, nuclear homes the trend

The big Indian joint family with uncles, aunts and cousins living under one roof seems to be a thing of the past in the Capital.

The big Indian joint family with uncles, aunts and cousins living under one roof seems to be a thing of the past in the Capital.

Most households in Delhi comprise nuclear families with at most married couples living with their parents.

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According to the census report of Delhi 2011, the largest number of households — 69.5% — have only one married couple. At 17.1%, houses with two married couples are a distant second, and houses with more than two married couples are minuscule.

Going by household size, most families in Delhi have six to eight members (25.6%), followed closely by four member families (24%). This means that half of houses in Delhi comprise of a married couple, their children and parents or one married couple and their children.

The number of households with more than nine members, which are found in a joint family set up, is only 5.9%.

Anand Kumar, professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, said that the metropolis might not have very small nuclear families as most Delhiites prefer to stay with their parents even after getting married.