| Income Variables
IHDS is one of the first Indian surveys to collect detailed income
data. Most surveys depend on consumption expenditures or household assets to
measure a household’s economic level. IHDS collected those data also (see
consumption
and
household assets,
but went to great lengths to measure household income as well. Over 50
different income sources were queried. The public use file collects those
sources into eight major income types (incfarm .. incother)
plus a total income variable (income).
All are household-level variables, but all are included in
both the household and individual data files.
| Variable |
N obs |
Unique Values |
Unwtd. Mean |
Min |
Max |
Label |
| income |
41554 |
21111 |
54428.30 |
-107350 |
6520261 |
HH5-15 3-8 Total income |
| incfarm |
41554 |
17098 |
10265.92 |
-107350 |
4817152 |
HH6-10 4-6 Family farm inc |
| incagwage |
41554 |
1273 |
3242.46 |
0 |
155000 |
HH11 6.8+ hh ag wages |
| incnonag |
41554 |
1372 |
5552.11 |
0 |
292000 |
HH11 6.8+ hh nonag wages |
| incsalary |
41554 |
2394 |
20616.48 |
0 |
960000 |
HH11 6.8+ hh salaries |
| incbus |
41554 |
844 |
10127.89 |
0 |
6190000 |
HH11-14 7. Net business inc |
| incremit |
41554 |
188 |
1436.60 |
0 |
610000 |
HH5 3.13 Sum hh remittance |
| incgovt |
41554 |
395 |
221.42 |
0 |
200000 |
HH15 8.7-13 govt benefits |
| incother |
41554 |
564 |
2965.43 |
0 |
500000 |
HH15 8.1+ property, pensions |
The most difficult income source to estimate is farm income (incfarm). Over half
of IHDS households had some farm income, so this is an important component of the
total income estimate. IHDS asked about crop production and prices, use of crop
residues, animal ownership and home-produced animal and crop products, expenses
for a variety of farm inputs, and agricultural rents paid and received. IHDS
staff continue to work on refining these data to produce the best income
estimates possible.
Negative farm income is reported by about 9 percent of the sample. Crop failures
and high expenses are a frequent source of debate in India so this estimate seems
reasonable. Negative farm incomes result in negative total income estimates for
about 1 percent of the households. Other analyses by IHDS staff suggest that
these households do not appear as poor on other economic dimensions as households
with low but positive incomes. Data users may want to consider restricting
income analyses to the sample of households with positive income (or
income >= Rs. 1000)
and adding separate analyses for the negative or very low income households.
Wage and salary incomes were summed across all jobs of all individuals in the
household. Annual totals were estimated using the report of days worked for
workers paid daily wages or monthly salaries. Meals, housing benefits, and
bonuses are included in these totals. The public use file divides wage and
salary incomes into three subtypes: incsalary salary income is defined as income
earned monthly or annually (rather than daily); incagwage agricultural wages are
the total daily wages of workers with agricultural occupations; and
incnonag nonagricultural wages are all other daily wages.
Remittances (incremit) were totaled from item 3.13 of the non-resident schedule
(page 5 of the household questionnaire).
Nonfarm business income (incbus) was sometimes reported only as net income
without specifying gross income and expenses. Therefore, net business income
does not always equal gross business income minus expenses.
IHDS also collected data on several sources of cash and noncash support not
included in the total income estimate because these sources are not properly
defined as income. For example, about 2% of households sold some land in the
previous year (in4a and in4b); 1% received insurance payments (in6); and about
nine percent had received some housing support such as latrines, stoves, or
housing materials (in14 and in15). These data are available in the IHDS files
but are not included as income.
The following table details some of the income sources used to calculate total
income:
| Variable |
Description |
Mean all hh |
% nonzero |
Max |
| income |
Total Income |
48,335 |
100% |
6,520,261.0 |
| ws8annhh |
Wage & salary |
25,949 |
71% |
960,000 |
| ws8pay |
regular pay |
25,485 |
71% |
960,000 |
| ws9meal |
meals |
141 |
9% |
12,600 |
| ws9rent |
housing |
137 |
1% |
90,000 |
| ws10 |
bonuses |
185 |
7% |
26,000 |
| incagwage |
agricultural wages |
3,472 |
29% |
155,000 |
| incnonag |
nonagricultural wages |
5,391 |
27% |
292,000 |
| incsalary |
salaries (monthly/annual-pay) |
17,085 |
28% |
960,000 |
| incbus |
Nonfarm business |
8,891 |
20% |
6,190,000 |
| nf3hh |
gross receipts |
23,469 |
19% |
19,000,000 |
| nf4hh |
expenses: labour |
1,398 |
5% |
900,000 |
| nf5hh |
expenses: other |
13,180 |
15% |
16,000,000 |
| incfarm |
Net Agricultural Income |
9,331 |
53% |
4,817,152 |
| fm15*fm18 |
Gross crop income |
10,188 |
38% |
4,913,500 |
| fm19Rs |
Total value of crop residue |
770 |
34% |
200,000 |
| fm19aRs |
Residue sold |
214 |
9% |
64,000 |
| fm19bRs |
Residue kept for own use |
556 |
30% |
200,000 |
| fmexpense |
Total crop expenses |
3,578 |
38% |
324,502 |
| fm20b |
Hired farm labour |
719 |
23% |
90,000 |
| fm20cRs |
Meals to hired labour |
33 |
8% |
16,000 |
| fm21a |
Seeds |
633 |
37% |
90,000 |
| fm22 |
Fertilizers |
831 |
35% |
96,000 |
| fm23 |
Pesticides |
265 |
21% |
99,990 |
| fm24 |
Irrigation |
189 |
13% |
50,000 |
| fm25 |
Hired equipt/ animals |
467 |
26% |
87,120 |
| fm26i |
Interest on loans |
52 |
3% |
60,000 |
| fm27 |
Miscellaneous expenses |
389 |
14% |
98,000 |
| animalRs |
Animal gross income |
3,099 |
39% |
1,117,774 |
| an2a+an2b |
marketed: milk, eggs, animals |
1,279 |
16% |
1,000,000 |
| co8,11,12,13 |
home grown milk, eggs, meat |
1,336 |
21% |
260,160 |
| half: co8,11,12,13 |
partially home grown |
45 |
2% |
75,600 |
| an1a,b,c |
estimate dung value |
323 |
35% |
72,932 |
| an1e |
estimate wool value |
8 |
1% |
14,753 |
| animalRsx1.03 |
est. reproduction of animals |
108 |
39% |
38,842 |
| anexpense |
Expenses for animals |
1,532 |
40% |
600,000 |
| an4a |
home grown grain |
269 |
21% |
55,000 |
| an4b |
home grown residue |
616 |
30% |
99,000 |
| an4c |
purchased grain & residue |
647 |
28% |
600,000 |
| incagprop |
Agricultural property income |
745 |
7% |
99,000 |
| fm6c |
Rs. Land rented out |
294 |
2% |
90,000 |
| fm6e |
Crops land rented out |
258 |
3% |
85,000 |
| fm32i |
Equipment rented out |
192 |
2% |
99,000 |
| fmrentexp |
Agricultural rents |
361 |
6% |
284,000 |
| fm8c |
Rs for land rented in |
105 |
2% |
90,000 |
| fm16Rshh |
Landlord's share |
257 |
4% |
284,000 |
| incremit |
Remittances |
1,447 |
8% |
610,000 |
| incother |
Property & Other Income |
2,511 |
10% |
500,000 |
| in1 |
renting property |
386 |
3% |
500,000 |
| in2 |
interest, dividends |
237 |
2% |
500,000 |
| in3a |
pensions: government |
1,703 |
5% |
400,000 |
| in3b |
pensions: private |
99 |
0% |
200,000 |
| in16 |
other income |
86 |
1% |
100,000 |
| incgovt |
Public benefits |
205 |
13% |
200,000 |
| in5 |
scholarships and gifts |
114 |
7% |
200,000 |
| in7c |
National Old Age pensions |
45 |
2% |
8,400 |
| in8c |
Widows' Pension Scheme |
23 |
1% |
12,000 |
| in9c |
National Maternity Scheme |
2 |
0% |
4,950 |
| in10c |
National Disability Pension |
4 |
0% |
6,200 |
| in11c |
Annapurna |
9 |
1% |
6,000 |
| in12c |
Other government transfers |
7 |
1% |
10,000 |
| in13c |
NGO or other assistance |
2 |
0% |
7,000 |
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