95 Chapter V SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS Demographic and Socio-economic changes influence the life style and working culture of the people. Industrialization, urbanization and modernization have changed the life style of Indian families. The transition from traditional to modern lifestyle, consumption of rich fat content food and high calorie food has been contributing much to the health problem. Coupled with high level of mental stress compounded the problem further. The way we eat, perform exercise, take rest, play, behave with others, think, plan, drive a vehicle, sleep, carry out our routine work and live others are included in the term ‘lifestyle’. It is true that our routine work and day-to-day life depend on various environmental factors such as social, economical, political, ecological and family background. When the basic necessities are not easily fulfilled, it is but natural that the man would try different strategies to achieve them. Our time schedule for working, resting, eating, entertainment and interacting with people around us would change the mode of our life pattern. A shift in eating habits, smoking, drinking and a host of other such unhealthy practices would result in health problems. Thus the life style of people determines their health status. This chapter analyzes about the socio-demographic profile of the respondents in the sample villages. The profile comprising of age, sex, educational qualification, community, marital status, occupation, income and family size of the respondents will help to know their socio-demographic status. The health status of respondents varies with their age, sex, occupation, income and family size. It is therefore understood that there is relationship between the health status of the respondents and their socio-demographic
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95
Chapter V
SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS
Demographic and Socio-economic changes influence the life style
and working culture of the people. Industrialization, urbanization and modernization have
changed the life style of Indian families. The transition from traditional to modern
lifestyle, consumption of rich fat content food and high calorie food has been contributing
much to the health problem. Coupled with high level of mental stress compounded the
problem further. The way we eat, perform exercise, take rest, play, behave with others,
think, plan, drive a vehicle, sleep, carry out our routine work and live others are included
in the term ‘lifestyle’. It is true that our routine work and day-to-day life depend on
various environmental factors such as social, economical, political, ecological and family
background. When the basic necessities are not easily fulfilled, it is but natural that the
man would try different strategies to achieve them. Our time schedule for working,
resting, eating, entertainment and interacting with people around us would change the
mode of our life pattern. A shift in eating habits, smoking, drinking and a host of other
such unhealthy practices would result in health problems. Thus the life style of people
determines their health status.
This chapter analyzes about the socio-demographic profile of the respondents in
the sample villages. The profile comprising of age, sex, educational qualification,
community, marital status, occupation, income and family size of the respondents will
help to know their socio-demographic status. The health status of respondents varies with
their age, sex, occupation, income and family size. It is therefore understood that there is
relationship between the health status of the respondents and their socio-demographic
96
composition. Hence an attempt has been made in the study to find out the level of
significance in the relationship between their health status and their socio-demographic
variables.
SAMPLE VILLAGES
Two coastal villages and two inland villages were selected for this study. The
following table shows the distribution of respondents according to their types of
settlement.
TABLE 5.1
RESPONDENTS BY TYPES OF VILLAGE
Types of village Sample villages No. of
Respondents Per cent
Coastal 2 389 32.7
Inland 2 802 67.3
Total 4 1191 100
Close to one-third of the respondents (32.7 per cent) belong to the coastal villages
and over two-thirds of them (67.3 per cent) belong to inland villages. An attempt has
been made to compare the sample population of these two types of settlements with
respect to the dependent variables taken for analysis.
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SEX
The participation of more females in the medical camps than their male
counterparts is the reason for the selection of more female respondents for this study. The
following table shows the sex-wise distribution of the respondents in the sample villages.
TABLE-5.2
RESPONDENTS BY SEX
Sex No. of Respondents Per cent
Male 476 40.0
Female 715 60.0
Total 1191 100
A sizeable proportion of the respondents (40) are males and a majority of them
(60 per cent) are females. Thus, in the sample population, the male respondents out
number their female counterparts, because the people who attended the medical camps
were mostly females. This variation mainly owes to the difference in the participation of
men and women in the medical camps. In other words, the participation of women in
medical camps is one and a half time higher than the participation of their men
counterparts. This shows that more women than men were interested in attending the
medical camps in order to consult the doctors and take treatment for their diseases.
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AGE
Age is an important independent variable in the demographic profile of any
population. The distribution of respondents in different age groups is shown in the
following table.
TABLE 5.3
RESPONDENTS BY AGE
Age No. of Respondents Per cent
0-14 512 43.0
15-25 109 9.2
26-40 224 18.8
41-60 239 20.1
Above 60 107 9.0
Total 1191 100
Average age (Mean): 23.87 years
A significant proportion of the respondents (43) belong to the age group of 0-14.
One-fifth of them (20.1 per cent) are in 41-60 age groups, close to one-fifth of them (18.8
per cent) are in 26-40 age group. Close to one-tenth of them (9.2 per cent) in the age
group of 15-25, and a similar proportion (9 per cent) of them are above 60 years. It is
inferred from this that the sample population is characterized by adulthood. This is
confirmed by the average age (23.87 years) of the sample population.
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FIGURE 1
THE DIAGRAMATIC REPRESENTATION OF AGE OF THE RESPONDENTS
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0-14 15-25 26-40 41-60 Above 60
Age
Per cent Age
100
EDUCATION
Rural people are educationally backward as compared to their urban counterparts.
This trend mainly owes to their economic backwardness and poor condition of schools in
rural areas in terms of lack of infrastructural facilities. Moreover, the rural parents have
no value for education. The following table presents the educational status of the
respondents.
TABLE 5.4
RESPONDENTS BY EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION
Educational
Qualification
No. of
Respondents Per cent
Illiterate 283 23.8
Primary School 484 40.6
Middle School 262 22.0
High School 102 8.6
Higher Sec. School 38 3.2
Others* 22 1.8
Total 1191 100
* Other refers to Technical education, U.G. and P.G.
A significant proportion of the respondents (40.7) studied upto primary level.
Over one-fifth of them (22 per cent) studied upto middle school level; 8.6 per cent of
them studied upto SSLC and 3.2 per cent of them studied upto HSC, and a negligible
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proportion of them (1.8) completed technical education, under graduate and post-graduate
degrees. This analysis of data shows that close to two-thirds of them (62.7 per cent) are
literates and rest of them (27.3 per cent) are educated. It is important to mention that
close to one-fourth of them (23.8 per cent) are illiterates.
COMMUNITY
The coastal villages consist of fisher folk who have been identified as Most
Backward Class by the Government of Tamilnadu. In a similar way, the inland villages
have more Backward Class people than those from other communities. The following
table represents the community-wise distribution of the respondents.
TABLE 5.5
RESPONDENTS BY COMMUNITY
Community No. of
Respondents Per cent
Forward Class
(FC) 2 0.2
Backward Class
(BC) 788 66.2
Most Backward
Class (MBC) 387 32.5
Scheduled Caste
(SC) 14 1.2
Total 1191 100
Note: This community-wise classification was done by the
Tamilnadu government.
It is understood from the table that two-thirds of the respondents (66.2 per
cent) belong to BC. Close to one-third of them (32.5 per cent) belong to MBC. However,
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a negligible proportion of them belong to SC and FC. This community-wise distribution
of the respondents discloses that the sample population is mostly represented by the
Backward and Most Backward Classes.
MARITAL STATUS
Marital status is one of the criteria to evaluate the health status of the respondents.
The following table shows the distribution of respondents according to their marital
status.
TABLE 5.6
RESPONDENTS BY MARITAL STATUS
Marital Status No. of Respondents Per cent
Unmarried 109 15.8
Married 493 71.6
Widowed 83 12.1
Separated 3 0.4
Total* 688 100
*Of the total sample population, 503 of them are excluded
from the table as they are children (0-14).
It is clear from the table that a great majority of the respondents (71.6 per cent)
are married, 15.8 per cent of them are unmarried, 12.1 per cent of them are in widowhood
and a few of them are separated. Thus the sample population is represented by married
respondents.
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OCCUPATION
There is no job opportunity in the sample inland settlements other than petty
business, casual work (coolie) in agriculture and allied activities. Moreover, agriculture is
not at present a progressive occupation due to lack of irrigation in those settlements. The
beedi rolling is an important secondary occupation for over one-fourth (26.0 per cent) of
the total employed people in the settlements. The following table shows the distribution
of the respondents in terms of their occupations.
TABLE 5.7
RESPONDENTS BY THEIR OCCUPATION
Primary occupation
No. of Respondents Per cent
Unemployed 52 12.4
Agricultural work 29 6.9
Beediwork 109 26.0
Petty Business 11 2.6
Private Job 37 8.8
Govt. Job 5 1.2
Fishing 21 5.1
Coolie 155 37.0
Total* 419 100
*The table does not include children (459), housewives (187),
unemployed females (43) and elders above 60 years (83).
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It is evident from the table that a significant proportion of the respondents (37.0)
are coolies, i.e. the coolies are those who are unskilled labourers usually hired for low or
subsistence wages. Over one-fourth of the respondents (26 per cent) are beedi rollers, 8.8
per cent of them are employed in private sector, 6.9 per cent of them are agricultural
workers, 5.1 per cent are fishermen and 2.6 per cent of them are petty businessmen. The
remaining (12.4 per cent) respondents are unemployed. It is evident from the table that
more respondents (coolies: 37.0 per cent and beedi workers: 26 per cent) are employed in
unorganized sectors than their counterparts engaged in other occupations. Due to
irregular monsoon and poor irrigation facilities in the sample villages agriculture remains
to be an unprofitable work. Men from this region prefer any type of work based on daily
wage, especially construction, brick work and the like. Particularly women prefer beedi
work because it is like a domestic work and fetching moderate income through out the
year. Since Tirunelveli District in which the sample villages are located, is industrially
backward region, the people have to resort to whatever jobs available from time to time.
INCOME
Income of the population is mostly depends on their occupation. As most of those
from the population are casual workers or daily wage earners, their income is rather low.
They get work for 2-3 days a week. Most of the households have one or two bread-
winners or potential earners. The following table exhibits the distribution of the
respondents in terms of their monthly income.
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TABLE 5.8
RESPONDENTS BY MONTHLY INCOME
Individual Income
(Rs.)
No. of Respondents Per cent
Below 1000 109 29.7
1001-2000 205 55.9
2001-3000 11 3.0
3001-4000 30 8.2
Above 4000 12 3.2
Total 367 100
Average individual monthly income: Rs.1360.64
A majority of the respondents (55.9 per cent) earn a monthly income of
Rs. 1001-2000 and very close to one-third of them (29.7 per cent) earn below
Rs.1000. The rest of them (14.4 per cent) earn above Rs.2000. This shows that an
overwhelming majority of the respondents (85.6 per cent) are living below
poverty line. The average monthly income of a respondent is Rs.1360.64.
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FIGURE 2
FAMILY INCOME
There is a variation between the individual income and family income of the
respondents. The family income is contributed by one or two bread-winners or potential
earners. So the family income of the respondents in the sample villages mainly depends
THE DIAGRAMATIC REPRESENTATION BY INDIVIDUAL INCOME PER