Archive · 27 Aug 2026
Young Indian Legislators Remain Few, Often Political Dynasts
India has many young people, but not many young lawmakers.
The analysis counted 384 MPs and state legislators who are 40 or younger.
Only 26 of them belong to Gen Z, which the article defines as people born from 1997 to 2012.
About 38% of all lawmakers aged 40 or younger come from political families.
This means having a parent, grandparent or other close relative in politics may help a young person enter public office.
The minimum age to contest an election is 25, so some Gen Z citizens cannot yet run.
Odisha, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have especially high proportions of young lawmakers from political families.
Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala have many young lawmakers but relatively few political dynasts.
The analysis found 384 MPs and MLAs aged 40 or under, including 26 Gen Z legislators.
Of the 384 younger legislators, 145, or 37.8%, come from political families.
Gen Z has 26 legislators: six MPs and 20 MLAs; 13 are political dynasts.
The Lok Sabha has 40 MPs aged 40 or under, while 344 such MLAs sit across 31 Assemblies.
Odisha, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have among the highest shares of dynastic legislators in this age group, while Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala have relatively few.
- Who
- MPs and MLAs aged 40 or younger, including Gen Z legislators and members of political families.
- What
- An analysis examined the age and political backgrounds of young lawmakers in India.
- When
- The analysis was published on August 5; youth protests had been taking place since the previous month.
- Where
- The Lok Sabha and 31 state Legislative Assemblies across India.
- Why
- The analysis examined youth representation and found that political family connections are common among younger legislators; the minimum election age is 25.
- Young legislators
- 384 MPs and MLAs are aged 40 or under.
- Political dynasts
- 145 of the 384 younger legislators, or 37.8%, come from political families.
- Gen Z legislators
- There are 26 Gen Z legislators: six MPs and 20 MLAs.
- Gen Z dynasts
- Thirteen of the 26 Gen Z legislators are political dynasts.
- Lok Sabha
- Forty MPs are aged 40 or under, including six Gen Z MPs.
- State Assemblies
- There are 344 MLAs aged 40 or under across 31 Assemblies.
- Women MPs
- Eleven of the 40 younger Lok Sabha MPs are women, including eight dynasts.
- Projected population
- People aged 40 or under are projected to represent 65.4%, or 93.3 crore, of India’s 2026 population.