Socio-economic status in a rural Pakistani village

Background

Socioeconomic status is an important driver of health outcomes, but the drivers of change in household status over time are often overlooked in favor of cross-sectional metrics of convenience. This is especially challenging in remote populations in low- and middle-income settings. We report changes in socioeconomic status over two decades.

Methods

During two studies on childhood health outcomes (1989-1996 and 2011-2014), socio-economic data were collected through surveys and interviews in Oshikhandass village, a remote population in northern Pakistan. Observations included metrics of population demography, occupation and incomes, household structure and self-reported adult illness. Individual measurements are reported with summary statistics comparing the two time periods and multi-dimensional socio-economic constructs are constructed from factor analyses to compare changes in relative household socio-economic position over time.

Files

Study 1, 1989-1996

Study 2, 2011-2014

Data
Codebook
Description

Study 1 HH_Family Folder _Jan17_2026
Study 1 Codebook HH_Family folder_Jan 17_2026
Family information including parental education, occupation and income in Study 1

Study 1 HHFamilyFolderOnly for HH_withChildrenUnder5years_Jan17_2026
Study 1 Codebook HH_Family folder_Jan 17_2026
Subset of the above for parents with children under 5y

Study 1 Data on Individuals in Households Jan17 2026
Study 1 Codebook Individuals in Households Jan 17_2026
Age of individuals in Study 1

Study 2 Mapping Data_Final_January 17_2026
Study 2 Mapping Codebook_January 17 2026
Household factors, e.g., construction and assets, from mapped data in Study 2

Study 2 Individual Members Data_January 16_2026
Study 2 Individual Members Codebook_January 16_2026
Ages and self-reported illness data in Study 2

Study 2 Data for Parents of U5 Children Jan17_2026
Study 2 Codebook for Parents of U5 Children Jan 17_2026
Occupations and education of parents of children <5y in Study 2

Study 2 SES Data Occupations All Earning Household Members_January 17_2026
Study 2 SES Codebook Occupations_January 17_2026
Occupation data for Study 2

Study 2 SES Data_Jan 18 2026
Study 2 SES Codebook_January 18 2026
Data from the socio-economic status questionnaire in Study 2 data

SES Factor Analysis Data_Jan16_2026
SES Factor Analysis Codebook Jan16_2026
Factor analysis of both Study 1 and 2