The results of the 16th Lok Sabha has thrown up with some interesting figures in terms of gender, age, educational and professional profile of the newly elected Members of Parliament.
Of the 543 MPs elected, 61 are women. This is the highest number of women MPs elected to the Lok Sabha in the history of the country, although by a small margin. 58 women were elected to the 15th Lok Sabha in the 2009 general elections.
If one looks at the age profile of newly elected lawmakers, then 253 of the 543 (47%) MPs elected to the 16th Lok Sabha are over the age of 55. In the 15th Lok Sabha, the percentage of MPs over the age of 55 was 43%.
This is the largest number of MPs to be elected to the Lok Sabha who are above the age of 55 in the history of the country. Interestingly, the Lok Sabha has been getting older every election since independence. Only 71 MPs (13%) have been elected to the Lok Sabha in this election who happen to be under the age of 40.
The educational profile throws up light on the MP's of the 16th Lok Sabha. 75% of the MPs elected in the 2014 general elections have at least a graduate degree. This is slightly lesser than the 15th Lok Sabha in which 79% of MPs held at least a graduate degree. Interestingly, the percentage of MPs elected in the 2014 general elections that do not have a matriculate degree is significantly higher in this election (13%) in comparison to the 15th Lok Sabha (3%). At the same time, the number of MPs with just a matriculate degree has decreased in the 16th Lok Sabha to 10% from 17% in the 15th Lok Sabha. The number of Members with a doctoral degree has also increased in the 16th Lok Sabha to 6% from 3% in the 15th Lok Sabha.
In the 16th Lok Sabha, 27% of MPs elected have listed agriculture as their primary occupation, followed by political and social work (24%) and business (20%). If we compare this with the 15th Lok Sabha, we find that 28% MPs had listed political and social work as their occupation, 27% had listed agriculture, while 15% had listed business. Going back to the very first Lok Sabha that was formed in 1952, we find that the single largest occupation of Members was that of lawyers (36%), followed by agriculture (22%) and business (12%).
