Burden of Multiple Disabilities among the Older Population in India: An Assessment of Socioeconomic Differentials

The objective of this study is twofold, firstly, to estimate the prevalence of multiple disabilities among the older population in India; secondly, to examine the socioeconomic determinants of multiple disabilities among the older population. This study used the India Human Development Survey Data (IHDS) for the analysis. Bivariate, Multinomial Logit Regression and Multiple Classification Analysis are used as methods of analyses. Disability score is constructed for measuring the multiple disabilities among the older population. The results of disability prevalence show, a high prevalence of multiple disabilities among the older population in India. Further, disability prevalence varies considerably by age and socio-economic characteristics of the older population. Among all the socioeconomic factors, economic factor emerged as a dominant predictor of prevalence of multiple disabilities among the older population in India. The findings of the dimension specific assessment reveal that the disability in walking is the highest among all the disabilities.