In-Depth Analysis of Gender Inequality in Comprehensive Health Status : Evidence from Elderly in India

Under the scenario of popularly increasing population aging problem and health related difficulties in India, the study attempts to explore the health-related discrepancies among male and female elderly, with the help of a composite health indicator. The composite health indicator is formulated using the underlying characteristics of different health dimensions and expressed in a single health index as the representative of overall health status of elderly. Findings suggest that individual characteristics like, education and marital status have the greater exploratory power of gender health difference than the household characteristics. Socioeconomic variables like education levels, social groups, religion groups and geographic region influence almost similarly in constructing overall health of elderly across gender, however, almost after a decade the health difficulties has accelerated among the higher income classes both for men and women elderly