In the absence of any official measures of old age poverty, this paper uses National
Sample Survey household-level data to investigate the extent and nature of living standards and
incidence of poverty among elderly in sixteen major states in India. We construct both individual
and household-level poverty indices for the elderly and examine the sensitivity of these poverty
indices to different equivalence scales and size economies in consumption. Our analysis
highlights the complex nature of old age poverty in the Indian states. While poverty estimates
taking into account equivalence scale and size economies in consumption suggest that households
with elderly members are less poor than others, the interpretation of this result is more complex.
Further analysis suggests that the results are partly a function of differences in demographic
composition of the households and a possible survivorship bias due to positive correlation
between household incomes and life expectancy. After correcting for the possible sources of bias
(including the survivorship bias), there is evidence that poverty is increased by the presence of
older elderly (75 and above) in all states. Meanwhile, the conclusion that households with elderly
aged sixty and above are less poor appears to be robust across most states