Falls among older adults in India: what the data says

India is ageing quickly, and more older people are living on their own than ever before. That makes falls one of the most important, and least discussed, risks for families. This page brings together the most useful numbers from national surveys and global health bodies, with links to every source.

The short version

• About 149 million Indians, or 10.5% of the population, were aged 60 or over in 2022. That is expected to reach 347 million, or 20.8%, by 2050. (India Ageing Report 2023)
• About one in five older Indians lives alone or with only their spouse, and older women are far more likely to live completely alone: 8.6% of women compared with 2.5% of men. (India Ageing Report 2023)
• Roughly one in eight people aged 60 and over reported a fall in the previous two years in India’s national ageing survey, LASI. Two separate analyses put the figure at 11.6% and 13%. (Biswal et al. 2026; Pal and Pal 2025)
• Women report more falls than men: 14.4% compared with 10.7% in one LASI analysis. (Pal and Pal 2025)
• Worldwide, around 684,000 people die from falls each year, over 80% of them in low and middle income countries, and adults over 60 suffer the most fatal falls. (WHO)

An older, more independent India

The India Ageing Report 2023, published by UNFPA India and the International Institute for Population Sciences, describes how quickly the country is changing. The number of people aged 60 and over was 149 million in 2022 and is projected to more than double by 2050. The oldest group is growing fastest: the population aged 80 and over grew by about 128% between 2000 and 2022.

Living arrangements are shifting too. The report finds that about one in five older people lives alone or only with a spouse, often because children have moved to other cities or countries for work. Women are much more likely to end up on their own: 8.6% of older women live alone, compared with 2.5% of older men. For falls, this matters a great deal. A fall in a busy joint family is usually noticed in minutes. In a home where two people in their late seventies live alone, or one person lives alone, it may not be noticed for hours.

How often older Indians fall

The best national data comes from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI), a large, nationally representative survey of Indians aged 45 and over and their spouses. Wave 1 was carried out in 2017 and 2018. Researchers have analysed its questions on falls in several ways:

• An analysis of 28,285 people aged 60 and over, published in European Geriatric Medicine in 2026, found that 11.6% reported a history of falls.
• An analysis of 31,464 people aged 60 and over, published in Scientific Reports in 2025, found that 13% reported a major fall in the previous two years. The figure was 14.4% for women and 10.7% for men, and varied widely by region, from 17.4% in the eastern states to 4.9% in the north-east.

An earlier survey of seven states, the Building Knowledge Base on Population Ageing in India study from 2011, found that 3.6% of people aged 60 and over had a fall-related injury, with women at almost twice the odds of men.

Who is most at risk

The 2026 LASI analysis linked a higher risk of falls with being a woman, being underweight, using tobacco or alcohol, chronic joint disease, high cholesterol, a previous injury or fracture, problems with eyesight or hearing, difficulty with everyday activities, depression, and trouble with physical tasks such as climbing stairs. Living in a city was linked with a lower risk.

The 2011 study found walking difficulties and dementia raised the odds of a fall-related injury considerably. None of this means a person with these risk factors will fall, but it helps families see who needs a closer look at their home and routine.

The global picture

The World Health Organization’s global report on falls prevention estimates that 28% to 35% of people aged 65 and over fall each year, rising to 32% to 42% of those over 70. In the United States, the CDC reports that more than one in four people aged 65 and over falls each year, that around 37% of those who fall are hurt badly enough to need treatment or to cut back on their activities, and that falls cause most hip fractures in older adults.

India’s survey figures look lower than these. Part of that is how the questions were asked and over what period. Part of it is almost certainly under-reporting.

Why the real number is probably higher

Survey figures depend on people remembering a fall and choosing to mention it, sometimes up to two years later. Small falls are easily forgotten, and many people play them down so their children do not worry. In the US, the CDC notes that fewer than half of older adults who fall tell their doctor. It is reasonable to read India’s numbers as a floor, not a ceiling.

What the numbers mean for your family

Put the trends together and the picture is clear: more people living into their eighties, more of them living alone, and falls that often go unreported. One of the biggest dangers is not the fall itself but the time spent on the floor afterwards. In a UK study of people over 90, 80% of those who fell could not get up on their own after at least one fall, and long periods on the floor were strongly linked to hospital admission.

Three practical steps follow from that:

1. Make the home safer, starting with the bathroom. Our room-by-room checklist covers the essentials.
2. Agree on a plan for when a fall happens. Read what to do if an elderly parent falls.
3. Make sure someone finds out quickly. Wall-mounted sensors like NoBlink notice a fall and call family without your parent having to wear or press anything.

A note on the data

Figures from different studies are not always directly comparable. They use different age groups, time periods and definitions of a fall. Where we quote a number, we have named the study it comes from so you can read it in full. If you are a journalist or researcher and spot something we should update, write to us at info@noblink.ai.