Table 2.
Percentage of older adults with the degree of life satisfaction by their background characteristics in India, 2017–18
| Background characteristics | Male | Female | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High (%) | Medium (%) | Low (%) | High (%) | Medium (%) | Low (%) | |
| Headship status | ||||||
| Nominal head | 45.2 | 12.9 | 42.0 | 23.1 | 28.6 | 48.3 |
| Functional head | 48.3 | 22.8 | 29.0 | 42.5 | 21.0 | 36.5 |
| Not head but take decision | 42.0 | 25.2 | 32.8 | 47.4 | 23.2 | 29.4 |
| Nor head neither take any decision | 46.1 | 19.7 | 34.2 | 35.8 | 17.9 | 46.3 |
| Age | ||||||
| Young-old | 46.1 | 23.2 | 30.7 | 45.0 | 22.5 | 32.5 |
| Old-old | 49.7 | 20.8 | 29.5 | 42.5 | 21.7 | 35.8 |
| Oldest-old | 45.8 | 23.4 | 30.8 | 42.3 | 22.6 | 35.1 |
| Education | ||||||
| No education/primary not completed | 40.0 | 24.1 | 35.9 | 39.9 | 22.9 | 37.2 |
| Primary completed | 47.4 | 21.5 | 31.1 | 53.9 | 22.8 | 23.3 |
| Secondary completed | 55.9 | 21.8 | 22.2 | 69.6 | 14.6 | 15.9 |
| Higher and above | 64.4 | 17.6 | 18.0 | 61.1 | 24.1 | 14.8 |
| Living arrangement | ||||||
| Living alone | 36.6 | 17.7 | 45.7 | 32.0 | 19.8 | 48.3 |
| Living with spouse | 46.6 | 21.5 | 32.0 | 43.5 | 25.4 | 31.1 |
| Living with children | 48.2 | 23.0 | 28.8 | 46.4 | 22.1 | 31.5 |
| Living with others | 39.0 | 23.4 | 37.7 | 35.5 | 20.2 | 44.3 |
| Marital status | ||||||
| Currently married | 47.7 | 22.6 | 29.8 | 46.9 | 23.5 | 29.6 |
| Widowed | 47.0 | 21.7 | 31.4 | 41.9 | 21.3 | 36.8 |
| Others | 31.2 | 25.9 | 42.8 | 34.3 | 20.1 | 45.6 |
| Working status | ||||||
| Working | 45.7 | 24.3 | 30.0 | 41.6 | 22.6 | 35.8 |
| Retired | 48.7 | 20.8 | 30.4 | 42.8 | 22.0 | 35.2 |
| Not working | 43.7 | 23.3 | 33.0 | 45.8 | 22.3 | 31.9 |
| Social participation | ||||||
| No | 47.7 | 23.0 | 29.3 | 44.6 | 23.0 | 32.5 |
| Yes | 42.6 | 18.0 | 39.4 | 40.3 | 18.0 | 41.7 |
| Self-rated health | ||||||
| Good | 52.3 | 21.8 | 26.0 | 49.5 | 20.9 | 29.7 |
| Poor | 41.3 | 23.3 | 35.4 | 38.6 | 23.6 | 37.8 |
| Difficulty in ADL | ||||||
| No | 48.4 | 22.2 | 29.4 | 45.7 | 22.2 | 32.0 |
| Yes | 42.1 | 23.8 | 34.2 | 38.8 | 22.3 | 38.9 |
| Difficulty in IADL | ||||||
| No | 50.4 | 21.4 | 28.2 | 47.1 | 22.5 | 30.4 |
| Yes | 41.8 | 24.3 | 33.8 | 41.5 | 22.1 | 36.4 |
| Psychological distress | ||||||
| Low | 63.7 | 18.4 | 17.9 | 60.7 | 19.6 | 19.7 |
| Medium | 43.4 | 25.1 | 31.5 | 42.2 | 23.3 | 34.6 |
| High | 28.8 | 24.9 | 46.3 | 28.2 | 24.0 | 47.8 |
| MPCE quintile | ||||||
| Poorest | 40.7 | 23.6 | 35.8 | 35.1 | 24.3 | 40.5 |
| Poorer | 45.5 | 23.2 | 31.2 | 40.7 | 22.7 | 36.6 |
| Middle | 47.2 | 24.0 | 28.8 | 46.6 | 21.8 | 31.6 |
| Richer | 50.9 | 21.9 | 27.2 | 48.6 | 21.9 | 29.4 |
| Richest | 53.0 | 18.9 | 28.1 | 52.0 | 19.7 | 28.3 |
| Religion | ||||||
| Hindu | 47.3 | 22.1 | 30.6 | 44.1 | 22.2 | 33.7 |
| Muslim | 46.4 | 24.4 | 29.2 | 40.8 | 23.4 | 35.8 |
| Christian | 46.6 | 19.9 | 33.6 | 42.9 | 19.3 | 37.8 |
| Others | 47.4 | 26.3 | 26.3 | 51.8 | 21.8 | 26.4 |
| Caste | ||||||
| Scheduled Caste | 38.9 | 23.1 | 38.1 | 36.3 | 23.1 | 40.6 |
| Scheduled Tribe | 41.8 | 22.9 | 35.3 | 38.1 | 23.2 | 38.6 |
| Other Backward Class | 48.1 | 22.0 | 30.0 | 45.2 | 21.8 | 33.1 |
| Others | 52.9 | 22.8 | 24.3 | 49.0 | 22.2 | 28.8 |
| Place of residence | ||||||
| Rural | 44.3 | 23.5 | 32.2 | 40.2 | 23.4 | 36.4 |
| Urban | 55.0 | 19.7 | 25.3 | 52.6 | 19.6 | 27.8 |
| Region | ||||||
| North | 42.5 | 24.8 | 32.8 | 41.4 | 23.9 | 34.7 |
| Central | 43.9 | 25.3 | 30.9 | 39.7 | 25.8 | 34.6 |
| East | 40.9 | 26.6 | 32.4 | 34.4 | 25.2 | 40.4 |
| Northeast | 50.8 | 27.5 | 21.7 | 40.4 | 29.7 | 30.0 |
| West | 71.1 | 14.0 | 14.9 | 66.5 | 16.4 | 17.1 |
| South | 41.7 | 19.0 | 39.3 | 41.5 | 19.1 | 39.4 |
| Total | 47.2 | 22.5 | 30.4 | 44.0 | 22.3 | 33.8 |