Widow and Widower Mortality in India

Abstract

Widowhood has been shown to be associated with elevated mortality risk in a number of contexts. This is the first study to quantify the mortality risk associated with widowhood for men and women in India. We do so by using data on individuals interviewed in the first wave of the India Human Development Survey (2004-5), whose survival status was observed seven years later in wave 2 of the survey. Accounting for differences in age, socioeconomic status, and residence type explains the higher risk of mortality for both widowed women and men aged 60 and above, but not for those aged 25 to 59. Despite the unique vulnerabilities experienced by Indian widows, we find that the risk of mortality for widowed women compared to married women is slightly lower than the mortality risk for widowed men compared to married men in the 25-59 age group. In this age group, we also document a survival disadvantage for widows exposed to conservative and less egalitarian gender norms, and for less educated widowers. These findings suggest that despite India’s similarity to other contexts with survival disadvantages for both widowed men and women, unequal gender norms still shape life chances for Indian widows.