Glossary
Plain-language definitions of every technical term used on this site, with the official definition where one exists. Definitional slippage is the main way honest numbers become misleading ones.
The Global Flourishing Study's composite of what people report about their own lives — happiness, health, meaning, character, relationships and material stability. India ranks 20th of 22.
The companion index built from 34 observable country-level indicators rather than self-report. India ranks 18th of 22.
The share of a given age group who are neither working nor studying nor in training. India's figure is 24.9% for ages 15–59 and 21.0% for ages 15–24.
The two age bands are frequently swapped. A “25% of youth” claim is actually the 15–59 figure.
The share of the population aged 15+ that is either working or actively looking for work. India: 59.3% in 2025.
The share of the population aged 15+ that is actually working. India: 57.4% in 2025.
The share of the labour force — not the population — that is looking for work and cannot find it. This is why a low UR can coexist with very low participation.
A falling UR can mean people stopped looking rather than started working. Read it alongside LFPR.
India's official labour-force survey, run by the National Statistics Office. The 2025 edition moved to a calendar-year cycle with a new sampling design.
The 2025 revamp breaks strict comparability with the earlier July–June reports.
Training through a recognised institution leading to a certificate. Reaches 4.2% of Indians aged 15–59.
Distinct from “any vocational training” (~21%), which includes informal, hereditary and on-the-job learning.
In the India Skills Report, the share of assessed candidates scoring above a threshold on a standardised job-readiness test. 56.35% in 2026.
Employability is an assessment outcome, not an employment outcome. It says nothing about whether jobs exist.
A network structure in which a person's information environment is dominated by voices that reinforce an existing position, and contrary information is filtered out or arrives pre-discredited.
Choosing to stay in one's current location when migration is available — a positive preference, not an absence of opportunity. Ranges from 32% to 60% of youth across the three countries studied.
The growth opportunity created when the working-age share of a population is large relative to dependants. India's window runs to roughly 2036 on official projections.
A dividend is a possibility, not a payment. It requires the jobs and institutions to convert it.
A study measuring a population at a single point in time. It can establish that two things occur together; it cannot establish that one caused the other.
Most of the screen-time and mental-health evidence on this site is cross-sectional. Read it as correlation.