ICRIER Report Highlights Rural Women's WPR Rises to 44.9% in 2025

By: Women Entrepreneurs Review Team | Tuesday, 3 November 2026

Number of women employed in India has witnessed a major jump from 22% in 2017–18 to 38% in 2025, with respect to female Worker Population Ratio (WPR), according to a new report by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). However, there has been an unequal distribution of these developments in terms of rural and urban sectors.

There has been a considerable jump in the number of women engaged in work in the rural sector from 23.7% to 44.9%, while the number of women in the urban sector has jumped from 18.2% to 25.9%. For this, two possible reasons have been cited for such a major jump in the employment participation of rural women.

Key Highlights:

• Rural women's WPR rose from 23.7% in 2017–18 to 44.9% in 2025
• Agriculture, self-employment and unpaid family work drove much of the employment growth
• Rural women's salaried employment share declined from 10.5% to 9.3%

The first one revolves around poverty or distress, requiring more incomes in a household. This implies to women’s employment being attributed to the necessity of earning money. The second reason emphasizes improvement in the economic infrastructure of the villages and the availability of livelihood options.

With allied agricultural activities, good connectivity, digital access, and employment programs of the government, there are more channels open for women to take part in economic activities. Some such programs are Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) and MGNREGA.

Even in 2025, agriculture contributed to the largest source of women’s employment living in the rural areas of India. According to the report, the percentage of rural employed women involved in the primary sector of economy had grown from 70.7% in 2017-2018 to 73.3% in 2025. At the same time, the growth in the number of women involved in agriculture was also considerable; the number of such people grew from about 54 million in 2017-2018 to more than 100 million in 2025.

The growth in women’s employment has been accompanied by the significant rise in self-employment and unpaid labor in the households. The number of rural women employed as own-account workers grew from 13.9 million in 2017-2018 to 56 million in 2025. At the same time, the number of unpaid family workers also increased – from 28.8 million to 49.3 million.

Another important factor contributing to the growth is self-employment. The number of rural women engaged in own-account work grew by more than four times, from 13.9 million in 2017-18 to 56 million in 2025. Family employment has grown too, with the number of women involved in family business without a wage growing from 28.8 million to 49.3 million.

In comparison to that, the growth of salaried employment can be described as modest. The number of rural women in salaried employment positions has grown from 7.9 million to 13.9 million, but their share in female labor force participation fell from 10.5% to 9.3%.

Such employment trends highlight the difference between involvement in the workforce and employment quality. While the number of rural women who are economically active has increased, the rising involvement in agriculture, self-employment and unpaid domestic employment has raised concerns regarding the stability of income and access to social security.