Trends and Determinants of Health Inequalities in Older Population: What Matters More in Past and Present?

Mohammad Zahid Siddiqui , Jawaharlal Nehru University

The socioeconomic gradient of health inequalities among the older population in India has declined, but much less is known about relative contributions of explanatory factors for health inequality. Data from the National Sample Survey (2004), (2014) has been used for analysis. Results indicate that the narrowing of socioeconomic inequality in the health status of the older population (60 years and above) since 2004 has been sizable (CI=-0.0888), far exceeding the narrowing of 70 years and above inequality (CI=-0.0543). Further, decomposition analysis reveals that illiteracy, marital status, low economic status, and females show significantly increasing importance in order to explain the inequalities in health status. On the contrary, the importance of rural place of residence, aged 70+ and religion has declined. Hence, results show that the inequalities are the artefact of existing inequalities in economic, education and marital status, which need immediate attention of policymakers to promote healthy and active aging.

See extended abstract

 Presented in Session 161. Life Course Determinants of Aging