Tamil Nadu, Home to India's Maximum Divorces

Bangalore: Tamil Nadu was home to the highest percentage of widowed/divorced or separated (WDS) individuals in India in 2010 as per Sample Registration System 2010 data submitted to the Union health ministry on Saturday. Tamil Nadu had 8.8 percent of WDS individuals while Delhi had the lowest - 4.1 percent reported Kounteya Sinha for TOI.

On the whole 7 percent of the population aged 10 and above were either widowed, divorced or separated in 2010 in India. Maharashtra was in both, the top five lists of highest percentage of WDS overall and females. The percentage of WDS females (2.9 percent) was almost three times that of men (10 percent).

The WDS population in some big states like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka were recorded to be as high as 8.2 percent, followed by Odisha (7.2 percent), Himachal Pradesh (7.1 percent) and Maharashtra (7 percent).

While UP's WDS men count stood at 3.7 percent, following it was Punjab (3.4), Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh (3.3). As far as women WDS were concerned, Tamil Nadu again topped the list with 14.5 percent of its population above the age of 10 belonging to this category, followed by Karnataka (14.2), Kerala (14), Andhra Pradesh (13.6) and Maharashtra (11.7).

The data also suggested that in West Bengal, the number of WDS women was almost six times higher than their male counterparts. The percentage of widowed/divorced or separated (WDS) men in the state was as low as 1.9 percent, and was 11.4 percent for women in that category.