India Human Development Survey

The India Human Development Survey (IHDS) 2005 is a nationally representative, multi-topic survey of 41,554 households in 1,503 villages and 971 urban neighborhoods across India. Two one-hour interviews in each household covered topics concerning health, education, employment, economic status, marriage, fertility, gender relations, and social capital. Children aged 8-11 completed short reading, writing, and arithmetic tests. Additional village, school, and medical facility interviews are also available.

A follow-up survey was conducted in 2012 that revisited over 40,000 of the same households as the 2005 survey. This makes the IHDS unique in India as a large-scale survey where results from two time periods can be directly compared.

This survey was designed by Professors Sonalde Desai and Reeve Vanneman from University of Maryland and researchers from the National Council of Applied Economic Research and funded by the National Institute of Health. Results from this survey are summarized in a book titled Human Development in India: Challenges for a Society in Transition, published in 2010 by the Oxford University Press.