Table 1.
Socioeconomic and demographic profile of older adults in India
| Background characteristics | Sample | Percentage |
| Socioeconomic status (SES) | ||
| Subjective SES | ||
| Ladder SES | ||
| Low | 13 127 | 41.7 |
| Medium | 16 142 | 51.3 |
| High | 2195 | 7.0 |
| Objective SES | ||
| MPCE quintile | ||
| Low | 13 660 | 43.4 |
| Medium | 6590 | 21.0 |
| High | 11 213 | 35.6 |
| Education | ||
| Not educated/primary not completed | 21 381 | 68.0 |
| Primary | 3520 | 11.2 |
| Secondary | 4371 | 13.9 |
| Higher | 2191 | 7.0 |
| Caste | ||
| Scheduled Castes | 5949 | 18.9 |
| Scheduled Tribes | 2556 | 8.1 |
| Other Backward Classes | 14 231 | 45.2 |
| Others | 8729 | 27.7 |
| Individual characteristics | ||
| Age in years (mean (SD)) | 69.2 (7.5) | |
| Sex | ||
| Male | 14 931 | 47.5 |
| Female | 16 533 | 52.6 |
| Working status | ||
| Working | 9680 | 30.8 |
| Retired | 13 470 | 42.8 |
| Not working | 8314 | 26.4 |
| Marital status | ||
| Currently married | 19 391 | 61.6 |
| Widowed | 11 389 | 36.2 |
| Others | 684 | 2.2 |
| Living arrangement | ||
| Living alone | 1787 | 5.7 |
| Living with spouse only | 6397 | 20.3 |
| Living with children and spouse | 21 475 | 68.3 |
| Living with others | 1805 | 5.7 |
| Social participation | ||
| No | 30 053 | 95.5 |
| Yes | 1411 | 4.5 |
| Physical activity | ||
| Frequent | 5651 | 18.0 |
| Rarely | 4023 | 12.8 |
| Never | 21 790 | 69.3 |
| Health factors | ||
| Depression* | ||
| No | 27 995 | 91.3 |
| Yes | 2657 | 8.7 |
| Self-rated health* | ||
| Excellent | 964 | 3.1 |
| Very good | 4192 | 13.6 |
| Good | 10 693 | 34.7 |
| Fair | 10 331 | 33.5 |
| Poor | 4630 | 15.0 |
| Difficulty in ADLs | ||
| No | 23 802 | 75.7 |
| Yes | 7662 | 24.4 |
| Difficulty in IADLs | ||
| No | 16 130 | 51.3 |
| Yes | 15 334 | 48.7 |
| Morbidity | ||
| No morbidity | 14 773 | 47.0 |
| 1 | 9171 | 29.2 |
| 2+ | 7520 | 23.9 |
| Household/community-related factors | ||
| Religion | ||
| Hindu | 25 871 | 82.2 |
| Muslim | 3548 | 11.3 |
| Christian | 900 | 2.9 |
| Others | 1145 | 3.6 |
| Place of residence | ||
| Rural | 22 196 | 70.6 |
| Urban | 9268 | 29.5 |
| Region | ||
| North | 3960 | 12.6 |
| Central | 6593 | 21.0 |
| East | 7439 | 23.6 |
| Northeast | 935 | 3.0 |
| West | 5401 | 17.2 |
| South | 7136 | 22.7 |
| Total | 31 464 | 100.0 |
*If sample may be less due to missing cases.
ADLs, activities of daily living; IADLs, instrumental ADLs; MPCE, monthly per-capita consumption expenditure.