INTERFAITH MARRIAGES IN INDIA

Findings of a 2013 study about interfaith marriages in India:

• Central Government-run International Institute for Population Sciences had presented a paper on interfaith marriages in India in 2013 by analysing data from the “India Human Development Survey (IHDS) data, 2005.”
  
  
• The study suggests that 2.21 % of all married women between the age of 15-49 had married outside their religion.
  
  
• The proportion of inter-religious marriages is highest at 2.8 % among the women of the young age group (15-19) than other age groups which decrease with increasing age at marriage with 2.3 % for those in the age group 20-24, 2 % for 25-29 and 1.9 % for those above 30.
  
  
• Interreligious marriages are greater among the women living in urban areas at 2.9 % compared to 1.8 % for rural areas.
  
  
• Scenario in religious groups:
  • The prevalence of women marrying outside their faith is the highest amongst Christians with 3.5 % of women having mixed marriages.
    
    
  • Sikhs come second at 3.2 %, Hindu’s 1.5 % and Muslims 0.6 %.
    
    
  
  
  
• States Scenario:
  • Punjab has the highest mixed marriages at 7.8 %. Jharkhand at 5.7 % and Andhra Pradesh at 4.9 % also have a high proportion of mixed marriages.
    
    
  • The lowest percentage of mixed marriages are in Bengal at 0.3 %, Chhattisgarh 0.6 % and Rajasthan 0.7 %.