Socioeconomic Scales and their Importance Socioeconomic Scales have an integral role in the healthcare system of India. This presentation explains many SES and their role.

1. Socioeconomic Scales
and their Importance

2. SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS
 WHAT IS SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS ?
o It is defined as the position that an individual or family
occupies with reference to the prevailing average
standards of income, education and occupation
o It is the way of segmenting consumers based on their
purchasing power
o It is often measured as a combination of education,
income and occupation.
o All community based studies focus on SES, as this is a key
to understanding affordability of health services.
o SES is typically broken into 3 levels
High Middle Low

3. MAJOR FACTORS
 Education- Education also play a role in income
.median earnings increase with each level of
education
 Higher level of education are associated with better
economic and psychological outcomes
 Education play a major role in skills sets for acquiring
jobs as well as specific qualities.
 Studies have noted that parents from Lower SES
families are more likely to give order to their children
while parents from higher SES are more likely to
interact and play with their children.

4. MAJOR FACTORS
 OCCUPATION- Occupational status measures social
position by describing job characteristics, decision making
ability and control
 Some of the most prestigious occupation are professor
doctor lawyer engineer and these jobs considered to be
grouped in high SES provide more challenging work and
greater control over work
 Lower SES ranking jobs are less valued more laborious, very
hazardous and provide less autonomy
 Income- Low income families are just able to meet their
immediate needs and are not able to accumulate wealth,
that could be passed on to future generations while
affluent families with higher and expandable income can
keep on hording wealth.

5. SES of people living with HIV /AIDS
 Finding of study
 Education illiterates 24%
primary 27%
high school 42%
graduates 7%
 Occupation unemployed 47%. , low paid PRIVATE JOB 37%
Own business 8% ., govt. job and others 7%
 Income no 26% ., 1-3 k 26%., 3-5 k 29%
5-18 k 8%., 10 k 1%
 HIV infected people are usually poor people and less education
 Most income earning years of their life is adversally affected
 Impact on both physical and phychological

6. Significance of SES

7.  Physical Environment
 Differences in services provided
 Material resources
 Genetic endowment
 Educational Status
 Attitude to disease
Socioeconomic Status and Health

8. How SES is MEASURED ?
 The position that an individual or family occupies with
reference to the prevailing average standards of
cultural and material possessions, income, and
participation in group activity of the community
• A variety of methods has been proposed but the most
usually used for urban population is kuppuswamy scale
 In SES scale ,there are many component like education
component occupation component ,income component
etc.
 Each component has different level and we will give
number from highest to lowest.

9. Older SEC Technique
 It is based on two parameters
Occupation
Education of the chief earner

10. Classification
 A1,A2 WHITE COLLAR JOBS
 B1,B2 SSC QUALIFIED JOBS
 C,D CLIMBERS(SKILLED JOBS)
 E1,E2 UNSKILLED LABOUR.

11.  It divides the population into 3 classes
Upper segment – A1 A2 and B1
Middle Segment – B2 and C
Lower segment – D, E1 and E2
Classification

12. The need to update SES scale
 Income ranges in the scale lose their
relevance following the depreciation in the
value of the rupee.
 Steady inflation, lower interest rates, and
country’s current account deficits are the
main factors contributing to fall in the
value of currency.
 Therefore, it is needed to update the scale
regularly for socioeconomic classification of
study populations.

13. Udai Pareek’s method
(rural)
 This method takes into consideration of caste,
occupation, education, land holding, social
participation, family size, housing, farm power,
material possession.
 Each of these component is given weighted
score and by summing up all the components
the SES can be determined and categorized into
several classes.

14. Components and their score
A) Caste
Scheduled caste 1
Lower caste 2
Artisan caste 3
Agriculture caste 4
Prestige caste 5
Dominant caste 6

15. B) Occupation
None 0
Laborer 1
Caste occupation 2
Business 3
Independent profession 4
Cultivation 5
Service 6
Components and their score

16. C)Education
Illiterate 0
Can read only 1
Can read and write 2
Primary 3
Middle 4
High school 5
Graduate 6
Above 7
Components and their score

17. D)Land
No land 0
Less than 1 acre 1
1-5 acre 2
5-10 acre 3
10-15 acre 4
15-20 acre 5
20 and above 6
Components and their score

18. E)Social participation
None 0
Member of one organization 1
Member of more than one organization 2
Office holder in such organization 3
Wider public leader 4
Components and their score

19. F)Family members
Single 1
Joint 2
Extended 3
Size up to 5 2
Any other distribution feature 2
Components and their score

20. G)House
No house 1
Kutcha house 2
Mixed house 3
Pucca house 4
Mansion 5
Components and their score

21. H)Farm power
No draught(Buffalos/cows) 1
1-2 draught animals 2
3-4 draught animals 3
5-6 draught animals or tractor 6
Components and their score

22. I)Material possession
Bullock cart 0
Cycle 1
Radio 2
Chairs 3
Mobile phone 4
Television 5
Refrigerators 6
Components and their score

23. SOCIOECONOMIC CLASS
SCORE CLASS
More than 43 1
33-42 2
24-32 3
13-23 4
Less than 13 5

24. Advantages
 Income may be concealed and it may not be easy
to determine. The scale is easy to use.
 To determine the level of poverty, these criteria
can be adopted to classify the family as below
poverty line (BPL) or above poverty line (APL).

25. Kuppuswamy Scale

26. Introduction
▪ The Kuppuswamy scale was proposed by Kuppuswamy in India in
1976
▪ It is the most widely used scale
▪ He prepared a scale based on three variables which contributes to
the socio-economic staus .These are-
1. Education
2. Occupation
3. Income
▪ Used for urban communities

27. ▪ These component classify or determine the socio-economic status
▪ Each component is given a weighted score and then total is summed
up and the individual / family can be classified

28. A. Educational Componeent
▪ We use the educational qualification of the head of the family .
Education Score
1. Profession or honors 7
2. Graduate or post graduate 6
3. Intermediate or post high school diploma 5
4. High school certificate 4
5. Middle school certificate 3
6. Primary school certificate 2
7. Illiterate 1

29. B.Occupational component
▪ It include occupation of the head of the family
Occupation Score
1. Professional 10
2. Semi-professional 6
3. Clerical,shop owner ,farmer 5
4. Skilled worker 4
5. Semi –skilled worker 3
6. Unskilled worker 2
7. Unemployed 1

30. ▪ Unskilled worker- neither education nor training
▪ Semi skilled worker- some training is required. Example- factory worker ,
lab attendant
▪ Skilled worker- long training required . Example – carpenter, car driver
▪ Clerical – training in arithmetic calculation, reading and writing . Example
– clerks and accountants
▪ Semi profession- post college training required. Example- teacher,
engineer
▪ Profession- policy making, education and decision making

31. c. Family income per month(in Rs,)
▪ It include the total family income not the income of the head of the family.
▪ The level of income is updated on the basis of consumer price index
Income Score
1. Above or equal to 36,997 12
2. Between 18,498-36,996 10
3. Between 13,874-18497 6
4. Between 9,249-13,873 4
5. Between 5,547 – 9,248 3
6. Between 1,866-5,546 2
7. Less than or equal to 1,865 1

32. Calculation
▪ Total score = A+B+C Social class
1. 26-29 1( upper class)
2. 16-25 2(upper middle )
3. 11-15 3(lower middle)
4. 5-10 4 (upper lower )
5. Below 5 5(lower)

33. Limitations
▪ It is used for urban families only. It cant be applied in rural areas as
people don’t have a fixed monthly income, they have daily wages.
▪ Some people may not like to disclose their actual income
▪ Sometimes the education of the head of the family may be less than
the other member .

35. • BG Prasad scale was first introduced in 1961
and was revised by the author himself in 1968
and 1970.
• After Kuppuswamy SES scale this scale is the
most widely used SES scale for classifying the
people according to the Socioeconomic Status.

36. • It is applicable to both urban and rural
population.
• It is based on per capita monthly income
It is computed as:
𝑃𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 =
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦

37. Income (in Rs./month) Social Class
6261 and above I (Upper Class)
3099-6260 II (Upper Middle Class)
1835-3098 III (Middle Class)
949-1834
IV (Lower Middle
Class)
948 and below V (Lower Class)

39. ROADMAP
• What is the new SEC
system?
• What was need for
the new SEC system?
• How do we classify a
household in the
new SEC system?
• Conclusion

40. The new SEC system is used to classify households in
India. It’s based on two variables:
 Education of chief earner
 Number of “consumer durables” ( from a predefined
list)-owned by the family. The list has 11 items,
ranging from ‘electricity connection’ and ‘agricultural
land’-to cars and air conditioners
We have 12 grades in the new SEC system, ranging from
A1 to E3
What is the new SEC system?

41. • Earlier classifications were based on the assumption
that higher education leads to higher income thus
higher consuming potential.
• But we know that this may not be true always.
• A trader or a retailer with no qualification can earn
more income than a Post graduate executive, but SEC
will categorize the traders/retailers not as SEC A1or A2.
So, in order to combat this problem, the Government
came up with the new SEC system on 3 May 2011.

42. How do we classify household in the new classification?

43. Q1a Please take a look at this list and tell me which of these items do you have at home? (It could be
owned by you, your family, or provided by the employer or it could be available in the house you live
in; but it should be for the use of just you or your family)
Q1bDoes your family own any agricultural land, by agricultural land I mean land that is currently
under cultivation or plantation?
Q2 Could you tell me something about the person who makes the biggest contribution to the running
of the household.To what level has he studied?
• Electricity connection
• Ceiling fan
• LPG Stove
• Two Wheeler
• Color TV
• Refrigerator
• Washing Machine
• Personal Computer/ Laptop
• Car/Jeep/Van
• Air Conditioner

45. Items Owned Circle
Electricity Connection 01
Ceiling Fan 02
LPG Stove 03
Two Wheeler 04
Color TV 05
Refrigerator 06
Washing Machine 07
Personal Computer 08
Car/Jeep/Van 09
Air Conditioner 10
Agricultural Land 11
Number of Items
Owned = 8

46. Education
No. of
Durables
Owned
Illiterate Literate but
no formal
school/
school upto
4 years
School: 5 to
9 years
SSC/HSC College
Diploma (Not
Grad)
Grad/
PG(General)
Grad/ PG
(Professional
)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
None E3 E2 E2 E2 E2 E1 D2
1 E2 E1 E1 E1 D2 D2 D2
2 E1 E1 D2 D2 D1 D1 D1
3 D2 D2 D1 D1 C2 C2 C2
4 D1 C2 C2 C1 C1 B2 B2
5 C2 C1 C1 B2 B1 B1 B1
6 C1 B2 B2 B1 A3 A3 A3
7 C1 B1 B1 A3 A3 A2 A2
8 B1 A3 A3 A3 A2 A2 A2
9+ B1 A3 A3 A2 A2 A1 A1

47. • The list of durables will become less discriminating
over a period of time as more people acquire
more durables.
• The list has to be changed from time to time - in
another few years probably all of them will have
gone. For instance, mobile is not one of the
discriminating goods because today almost
everyone has it.
Conclusion

48. Standard of living index (SLI)
Definition
 Income and occupation, standards of housing,
sanitation and nutrition, the level of
provision of health, educational, recreational
and other services may all be used
individually as measures of socioeconomic
status and collectively as an index of the
“Standard of Living”

49. Standard of living index (SLI)
Variables Categories Score
1.Source of drinking tap(own) 3
Water tap shared 2
hand pump+well 1
others 0
2.Type of house pucca 4
semi-pucca 2
katcha 0

50. Variables Categories Score
3.Source of lighting electricity 2
kerosene 1
others 0
4.Fuel for cooking LPG 2
kerosene 1
others 0
Standard of living index (SLI)

51. Variables Categories Score
5.Toilet facility own flush toilet 4
own pit toilet 2
shared toilet 2
no toilet 0
Standard of living index (SLI)

52. Variables Categories Score
6.ownership of items: fan 2
radio 2
sewing machine 2
television 2
telephone 3
bicycle 2
motor cycle/scooter 3
car 4
tractor 4
Standard of living index (SLI)

53.  On the basis of total score households are divided
into three categories as:
 Low-if total score is less than or equal to 9.
 Medium-if total score is greater than 9 but less than or
equal to 19.
 High-if the score is greater than 19

54. Poverty line
 It is an economic benchmark and poverty threshold
used by the government of India to indicate
economic disadvantage and to identify individuals
and households in need of government assistance
and aid.
 The poverty line is defined as expenditure required
for daily calorie intake of 2400 per person in rural
area and 2100 in urban area.

55. Poverty line
 This expenditure is officially estimated
 According to the budget of 2011-12:
Rural –Rs.27 per day
Urban –Rs.33 per day
 And as per 2014 budget
Urban Rs.47/day
Rural Rs.32/day

56. Criterias Udai pareek B. Kuppu swamy B.G. Prasad
Income x Total family income Per capita income
Education + Edu of family head X
Occupation + Occ of family head X
Caste + X X
Land + X X
Social participation + X X
Family type + X X
Family size + X X
Type of house + X X
Farm power + X X
Material possession + X X
Composite score + + X
Rural or urban R U R & U

57. Thank You