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Letter to the Editor

Updating Income Ranges for Kuppuswamys Socio-Economic

Status Scale for the Year 2014
Access this article online The Kuppuswamy scale was devised by Kuppuswamy
Quick Response Code: in 1976 and is based on a composite score considering
Website: www.ijph.in
the education and occupation of the head of the family
along with monthly income of the family, which
DOI: 10.4103/0019-557X.157540
yields a score of 3-29. This scale classifies the study
populations into high, middle, and low SES, as shown
PMID: ***
in the Table 1.3

Sir, Revision of the original scale to bring the income

Socioeconomic status (SES) is an important determinant
of the health, nutritional status, mortality, and morbidity
of an individual. SES also influences the accessibility,
affordability, acceptability, and actual utilization of
available health facilities.1
There are many different scales to measure the SES of a
family. The B. G. Prasad classification proposed in the
year 1961 is a scale based on per capita monthly income
subscale up to date is done as required. This was
necessitated as monetary inflation means that the rupee
does not retain the same value each year in terms of
the goods/services that may be purchased with the
same amount. The revision is linked to the All India
Average Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers
(CPI-IW).4
Table 1: Original Kuppuswamys socioeconomic status scale

and has been used extensively in India. It can be applied Education Score
Profession or honors 7
to assess the SES in both rural and urban areas, as it
Graduate or postgraduate 6
takes into consideration only the income as a variable Intermediate or post-high school diploma 5
and is simple to calculate. In rural areas, the Pareek High school certicate 4
classification based on nine characteristics, namely, caste, Middle school certicate 3
Primary school certicate 2
occupation, education, level of social participation of
Illiterate 1
head of the family, landholding, housing, farm power, Occupation
material possession, and total members in the family, is Profession 10
widely used. Semiprofessional 6
Clerical, shopowner, farmer 5
The modified Kuppuswamy scale is commonly used to Skilled worker 4
Semiskilled worker 3
measure SES in urban communities. This scale includes
Unskilled worker 2
the education, occupation of head of the family, and Unemployed 1
income per month from all sources. The Government of Family income per month (in Rs. as per year 1976)
India in the National Family Health Survey (NFHS - II) 2000 12
had used the Standard of Living Index (SLI) scale, 1000-1999 10
750-999 6
which contains 11 items, namely, house type, source of 500-749 4
lighting, toilet facility, main fuel for cooking, source of 300-499 3
drinking water, separate room for cooking, ownership 101-299 2
of the house, ownership of agricultural land, ownership 100 1
Socioeconomic class
of irrigated land, ownership of livestock, and ownership
Upper class 26-29
of durable goods, for measuring SES in both urban and Upper middle class 16-25
rural areas for the entire country.2 However, each of these Lower middle class 11-15
scales available for measurement has its own advantages Upper lower class 5-10
and disadvantages. Lower class <5

Indian Journal of Public Health, Volume 59, Issue 2, April-June, 2015

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Letter to the Editor 157

Table 2: Reference index according to year
Year Reference index
1960 100 (base)
1976 296
1982 490-100 (new base, applied by Mishra et al.,7 for updating in 1998)
Price index for 1976 by 1982 base = 100/490 x 296 = 60.408
1998 405
2001 458-100 (new base applied by Kumar et al.,8 for updating in 2007)
Price index by old base for 2001 = 458
Assuming price index by new base for 2001 = 100
Price index by old base for 1998 was 405
Price index by new base for 1998 = 100/458 x 405 = 88.428
Price index by new base (2001) for 2014 = 244
Conversion factor with 2001 as new base will be 244 88.428 = 2.759
consideration is given to size of the family: a small family
with a particular income will have higher SES status than
a bigger-sized family with similar income.
Sukhvinder Singh Oberoi1
1
Reader, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Sudha Rustagi
College of Dental Sciences and Research, Faridabad,
Haryana, India
Corresponding Author: Dr. Sukhvinder Singh Oberoi,
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Sudha Rustagi College of
Dental Sciences and Research, Faridabad, Pandit Bhagwat Dayal
Sharma University, Rohtak, Haryana, India.
E-mail: drsukhvinder@gmail.com

References
Table 3: Updated Kuppuswamys socioeconomic status scale
with updated income range 1. Aggarwal OP, Bhasin SK, Sharma AK, Chhabra P, Agarwal
1971 1997 2008 2006 2014 (May) K, Rajoura OP. A new instrument (scale) for measuring the
(Current price socioeconomic status of a family: Preliminary study. Indian
index)
J Community Med 2005;30:111-4.
2000 13,408 19,844 31,507 36,997
2. Ramesh Masthi NR, Gangaboraiah, Kulkarni P. An
1000-1999 6704-13,407 9922-19,843 15,754-31,506 18,498-36,996
exploratory study on socio economic status scales in a rural
750-999 5028-6703 7441-9921 11,817-15,753 13,874-18,497
and urban setting. J Family Med Prim Care 2013;2:69-73.
500-749 3352-5027 4961-7440 7,878-11,816 9,249-13,873
3. Kuppuswamy B. Manual of Socioeconomic Status (Urban).
300-499 2011-3351 2976-4960 4727-7877 5547-9248
1st ed. Delhi: Manasayan; 1981. p. 66-72.
101-299 677-2010 1002-2975 1590-4726 1866-5546
4. Sharma R, Saini NK. A Critical Appraisal of Kuppuswamys
100 676 1001 1589 1865
Socioeconomic Status Scale in the Present Scenario. J Family
Med Prim Care 2014;3:3-4.
The family income per month (in rupees) for 1976 was 5. Bairwa M, Rajput M, Sachdeva S. Modified Kuppuswamys
calculated according to base year 1960 = 100 (using the Socioeconomic Scale: Social Researcher Should Include Updated
price index for 1976 as 296),5 and this rose to 490 in the year Income Criteria, 2012. Indian J Community Med 2013;38:185-6.
6. Kumar N, Gupta N, Kishore J. Kuppuswamys socioeconomic
1982.6 Mishra7 revised the Kuppuswamy index in 1998 as
scale: Updating income ranges for the year 2012. Indian
per the price index year 1998 using base year 1982 = 100, J Public Health 2012;56:103-4.
which was again later revised by Kumar et al.8 for the year 7. Mishra D, Singh HP. Kuppuswamys socioeconomic status
2007 by keeping 2001 as the base year according to the scale--a revision. Indian J Pediatr 2003;70:273-4.
1982 base. The price index was 88.42 for 1998 and 244 8. Kumar N, Shekhar C, Kumar P, Kundu AS. Kuppuswamys
socioeconomic status scale- Updating for 2007. Indian
for 2014.9 Thus the conversion factor with 2001 as the new
J Pediatr 2007;74:1131-2.
base will be 244 88.428 = 2.759 [Tables 2 and 3]. 9. Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour, Government of India.
Linking Factors between New Series and Old Series. Available
The major issue of concern is that the income part is from: http://www.labourbureau.nic.in/indexes.htm. [Last
considered to be the total income of the family and no accessed on 2014 Jul 21].

Indian Journal of Public Health, Volume 59, Issue 2, April-June, 2015