Introduction
The term socioeconomic status (SES) refers to the position that a person or family has in relation to the community's typical standards for cultural and material goods, income, and involvement in social activities.1 It is a crucial factor in determining an individual's nutritional status, mortality, and morbidity since it affects the cost, acceptability, accessibility, and use of medical facilities. The disparities between socioeconomic position (SES) and health status follow a gradient, or a step-by-step pattern, between where one sits in an SES hierarchy and most health outcomes.
Even though not all health issues are correlated with socioeconomic class (a few diseases are more common in higher SES groups than in lower SES groups), the tendency is persistent throughout time and is evident in both men and women of all ages across countries. However, recent studies have demonstrated that health disparities accumulate over a lifetime and have an impact on health at every stage of life. Poor social and economic circumstances early in life have a long-term effect on health.2 Several socioeconomic status scales have been proposed in India for both urban and rural areas. The noteworthy include the Rahudkar scale (1960); B.J. Prasad (1961); Udai Parikh (1964); Jalota scale (1970); Kulshreshta scale (1972); Modified Kuppuswamy scale (1976); Shrivastava scale (1978); Bhardwaj scale (2001) & O. P. Aggarwal (2005).3 The criteria that are most frequently utilized in these scales are total income, educational achievement, and occupation. In India, the most well-known and extensively used scale for determining the socioeconomic status of an individual or a family in urban areas is the "Modified Kuppuswamy SES Scale".4
Table 1
Occupation of the head of the family
Table 2
Education of the head of the family
Table 3
Total monthly income of the family
Table 4
Kuppuswamy socio-economic status scale 2023
|
S. No. |
Scores |
Socio-Economic Class |
|
1 |
26-29 |
Upper (I) |
|
2 |
16-25 |
Upper Middle (II) |
|
3 |
11-15 |
Lower Middle (III) |
|
4 |
5-10 |
Upper Lower (IV) |
|
5 |
<5 |
Lower (V) |
Originally intended to assess an individual's SES, the scale was later modified to assess the SES of a family rather than an individual. Kuppuswamy created the original scale in 1976. It has three index factors viz; education, occupation, and total income. Each parameter has been further divided into subgroups, and each subgroup has been given a score. The Kuppuswamy SES Scale categorizes families into five groups (upper class, upper middle class, lower middle class, upper lower class, and lower class) based on their overall score, which ranges from three to twenty-nine (03-29).3 Yet, due to the dynamic nature of macroeconomic indices viz; inflation, per capita, etc., the SES is ineffectual in reaching their main objective. To fulfill their objective of determining the SES of an individual or a family, they must undergo consistent changes over time. This work aims to update and provide an “Updated Modified Kuppuswamy SES" scale for the year 2023.
Revision of Income Parameters in Modified Kuppuswamy Scale
The Kuppuswamy socioeconomic survey's parameters, including education and occupation, have remained constant over time. However, the third parameter i.e. income loses its pertinence following the Indian rupee (INR) sensitivity to inflation.5 The income scale in Kuppuswamy SES is therefore adjusted in accordance with changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for industrial workers as projected by Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour and Employment Govt. of India6 and the Central Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation7 on their website. The values of the CPI are explained in reference to a base year.8 As per the Labour Bureau, Government of India, the current base year to be considered is 2016. Here in this paper, we will use 2016 base year for calculating the income level of families to determine their socioeconomic status.9 For calculation inflation rate (conversion factor), of February 2023 is 6.16 has been considered. If we multiply the generated income scale values of the year 2016 with the conversion factor of 6.16 that will update the Kuppuswamy SES scale for February 2023. The conversion rate or inflation rate is calculated using the formula.
Inflation Rate =
b is the CPI of the current year &
a is the CPI of previous year
Limitations
Although researchers most frequently use it in community, and hospital based investigations, the Kuppuswamy socioeconomic survey has significant limitations that decrease its sensitivity in predicting a family's socioeconomic level. These include determining socioeconomic class by taking into account the employment history and educational background of the family's head, which is wholly inappropriate in the current context. Furthermore, the scale is subject to variations in income levels because it depends on shifting CPI values and needs to be updated frequently.
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