India is home to 42.4 million widows, most of them living in deplorable conditions, said a report prepared by the Loomba Foundation. The report has also revealed that ‘many of these women and their children are malnourished, exposed to disease, and subjected to slavery.’

According to the report, “the countries with the highest number of widows in 2010 were China with 43 million, India with 42.4 million, the United States with 13.6 million, Indonesia with 9.4 million, Japan with 7.4 million, Russia with 7.1 million, Brazil with 5.6 million, Germany with 5.1 million, and Bangladesh and Vietnam with about 4.7 million each.”

The report titled ‘Invisible Forgotten Sufferers: The Plight of Widows around the World’ also estimated the worldwide widow population to be around 245 million, out of which 115 million live under extreme poverty.

The report also stated that the children of the widows are worst affected. “Over 500 million dependent and adult children of widows are caught in a vicious underworld in which disease, forced servitude, homelessness and violence are rampant and youngsters are denied schooling, enslaved or preyed upon by human traffickers,” the report added.

The report highlighted that the Afghani (200,000) and Iraqi widows (740,000) face the most dire consequences due to ongoing conflicts in the country. 

Read the release