Marriage Dissolution in India and Its Associate Factors

Grace Bahalen Mundu, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Sayeed Unisa, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

This paper investigates the factors affecting the marriage dissolution in India and also separately by the geographical region. District Level Household Survey-3 (2007-08) data has been used. One of the largest ever demographic and health survey carried out in India, covering all the districts of country. The hazard regression analyses has been carried out, it suggest that age at marriage, age, birth-cohort, region, place of residence, religion, caste, children-ever born, education level had significant effects on the chances of marriage dissolution. Age at marriage is an important factor affecting the marriage dissolution. Women marrying at their later ages, their risk of marriage dissolution is greater, i.e. 16.752 times more than those marrying at their early ages. Educated women have higher chances of marriage dissolution than the illiterate ones. Results suggest that dissolution rates are quite higher in Northeastern, Western and Southern regions.