Census 2011 has cleared the urban myth, it finds that rural India has more double-income-no-kids (DINK). An overwhelming 51 per cent of urban households live on the income of a single earner, while double-income families stand at 26 per cent. In rural areas, the situation is quite different. While 34 per cent of families have a single worker, double-worker families are slightly more with 35 per cent.
 
In fact, the double-income-no-kids (DINK) lifestyle celebrated as a cosmopolitan aspiration is prevalent in nearly 42 per cent of two-member rural families compared to just 22 per cent of similar urban families.
 
If you combine the rural and urban figures, here is what has emerged for the India picture: 39 per cent of households sustain themselves on the income of a single working member, while 33 per cent depend on two workers. This is not too different from a decade ago, when Census 2001 had revealed that 38 per cent of households had a single breadwinner while 32 per cent had two working members.
 
Perhaps this is because rural families are bigger, and so more members are able to work? Not true. In urban areas, nearly three quarters of families have 3-6 members. In rural areas, 66 per cent are in this range. Clearly, this size is the most predominant one in both rural and urban. About 17 per cent of families in rural areas have 7-10 members compared to nearly 13 per cent in urban areas.