This document discusses several socioeconomic status (SES) scales used in India to measure and classify families based on income, education, occupation, and other factors. It describes the Kuppuswamy scale from 1976, which uses composite scores of education, occupation, and monthly income to classify SES into high, middle, and low. It also discusses modifying the Kuppuswamy scale using consumer price index data to account for inflation over time. Several other SES scales developed for India are briefly outlined, including the B.G. Prasad scale, Udai Pareek scale from 1964, and scales developed by Agarwal, Rahudkar, Shirpurkar, Jalota, Kulshreshta, and

1. Dr. Priyanka Sharma
II year M.D.S
JSS Dental College & Hospital
Mysore
SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS
SCALE IN INDIA

2. • Urban communities
• Devised by Kuppuswamy in 1976.
• Consists of compo-site scores :
Education and
Occupation of the head of the family
Along with monthly income from all the sources of the family.
• Yields a score of 3 – 29 and
• It classifies the study population into high middle and low SES.
Kuppuswamy Socioeconomic classification

4. • Modified for September 2013 :
Current income groups = Original family income groups of Kuppuswamy
(1976) X current consumer price index X 0.0735 (multiplication factor)
Year Jan Feb March April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
Averag
e
2006 119 119 119 120 121 123 124 124 125 127 127 127 123
2007 127 128 127 128 129 130 132 133 133 134 134 134 131
2008 134 135 137 138 139 140 143 145 146 148 148 147 141.66
2009 148 148 148 150 151 153 160 162 163 165 168 169 157
2010 172 170 170 170 172 174 178 178 179 181 182 185 175.9
2011 188 185 185 186 187 189 193 194 197 198 199 197 191.5
2012 198 199 201 205 206 208 212 214 215 217 218 219 209.33
2013 221 223 224 226 228 231 235 237 238 241 243 239 232.16
2014 237 238 239 242[6] 244 246 252 253 253 253 253 253

5. • CPI is done to find out the difference in the prices and range of
inflation.
• 1. Find out the old prices of the common commodities and add all.
• 2. Find current prices of the same and add all.
• 3. Divide the current price with the old price and multiply it with 100 =
Price index of the new base year
• 4. Conversion factor = CPI of the given year/Price index of the new base
year
• Multiply the conversion factor with the income range in given
Kuppuswamy scale.
CALCULATION

6. • Consumer Price Index (CPI) in India comprises multiple series classified
based on different economic groups. There are four series, viz the CPI
UNME (Urban Non-Manual Employee), CPI AL (Agricultural Labourer),
CPI RL (Rural Labourer)and CPI IW (Industrial Worker).
• CPI UNME series is published by the Central Statistical Organisation, the
others are published by the Department of Labour.
• Dearance allowance – 120% by july 2015

7. • mainly used for rural areas
• uses only the monthly per capita income from all the sources of the
family.
B.G Prasad classification

8. • Multiplying factor = current index value (=238)/Base index value in
2001 (=100) = 2.38.
• New income value = 2.38 × (old value × 4.63 × 4.93).

9. • 1. Caste: Classification of castes differs in different parts of the country.
The investigator should for himself find out these castes for the village
(s) in which he is working. Lower caste should be given low score
compared to higher caste. For example SC/ST=0, OBC=1 etc.
• 2. Occupation: Labor=1, Caste occupation=2, Business=3, inde-pendent
profession=4, cultiva-tion=5, Service=6
• 3. Education: Illiterate=0, Can read only=1, Can read and write=2,
Primary=3, Middle=4, High school=5, Graduate=6
Udai Pareek SES Scale - 1964

10. • 4. Social Participation: Mem-ber of one organization=1, Member of
more than one organization=2, Office holder=3, Wider public leader=6
• 5. Land: 0= no land, 1= < 1 acre, 2= 1-5 acres, 3= 5-10 acres, 4= 10-15
acres, 5= 15-20 acres, 6= >20 acres
• 6. House: No home=0, Hut=1, Katcha house=2, Mixed house=3, Pucca
house=4, Mansion=6
• 7. Farm power: 1= no drought animal, 2= 1-2 drought animals, 4= 3-4
drought animals or =1 prestige animal, 6= 5-6 drought animals or
tractor
• 8. Material Possession: Bull-ock-cart=1, Cycle=1, Radio=1, Chairs=1,
improved agricultural implements=2, Mobile Phone=4, Television= 3,
Refrigerators=8
• 9. Family: Type: Single=1, Joint=2, Extended= 3, Size: Up to 5=2,
Distinctive features=2

13. • Urban, rural, resettlement colony, slum and mobile groups
• 22 individual questions (Items) were analysed
Agarwal et al scale

16. • Wealth Index Scale
• Rahudkar scale 1960
• Shirpurkar scale 1964
• Jalota Scale 1970
• Kulshreshta scale 1972
• Srivastava Scale 1978
• Bhardwaj scale 2001
Other scales

17. • Annals of Community Health .Volume 1, Issue 1, December 2013
• Indian Journal of Community Medicine Vol. 30, No. 4, October-
December, 2005
• Presentation of Pathfinder II – Bangalore chapter
References