"1.3 Features of Rural - Urban areas(A) EDUCATIONAL STATUSChart 6: percentage distribution of elderly persons by literacyThe literacy through formal schooling for elderly persons, as shown by 2007-08NSSO employment-unemployment survey, was only 35% for the all India averageand the corresponding figure for elderly male was 50% and that for females was20%. In rural and urban contrasts, the literacy rate for elder males and females inrural areas was much smaller as compared to the corresponding figure for urbancounterparts i.e. 76% and 42% respectively (figure). However, over a period oftime from 1991 to 2007-08, the percent of elder literates have increased for bothrural and urban areas (figure). (CSO, 2011)Chart 7: Percent of literates among elderly20 (B) EMPLOYMENTIn India, the percentage of persons aged 60 & above working in population census2001 & NSSO (2007-08) were around 40%. Out of which, around 60% are malesworkers and around 20% are females workers. In rural and urban contrasts, bothworking male and female old age population is higher in rural areas i.e. 66% and25% respectively (by both the methods).(ibid)Chart 8: Percentage of 60 & above in India working in population census 2001 &NSSO (2007-08)(C) DEPENDENCYIn India, dependency ration is defined as the number of persons in the age group of60 or more per 100 persons in the age group of working population i.e. 15-59years. It has increased over a period of time from 10.9% in 1961 to 13.1 % in 2001.Also, the gap between female and male old age dependency ration has widenedafter 1991 and in 2001, the female?s old age dependency was much higher (13.8%) 21 Chart 9: old age dependency ratio in India, 1961 -2001as compared to that of males (12.5%). In contrast between rural and urban areas,the rural areas have always higher old age dependency ratio as compared to that ofurban areas. This is primarily due to the concentration of working population inurban areas (figure). In state level comparisons, the old age dependency ratiovaried from 8.4 % in Delhi to 16.5% in Kerala (figure). (ibid)Chart 10: old age dependency ratio in major states of India22 (D) LIVING ARRANGEMENTSThe NSSO survey on Condition of Aged (2004) reveals that the number of eldermales living with their spouses are more than 75% in both rural and urban areaswhereas it is less than 40% elder females who live with their spouses. Around halfof the elder females in both rural and urban areas tend to live with their childrenwhile their male counterparts are less than 20%. The percent of elder femalesliving alone is 7-8% and with other relations and non-relations, it is only 6-7%.Whereas the corresponding figure for elder males is much lower i.e. around 2-3%for both categories. (ibid)Chart 11: Percent of elderly with different types of living arrangements(E)ASSET OWNERSHIPThe asset ownership in India comprises of many assets such as inherited and self - acquired land, inherited and self- acquired houses, inherited and self- acquired goldand jewelry, savings in bank, post office, cash, bonds, shares, mutual funds, andlife insurance. Out of them, the share of self- acquired houses has largestownership in total asset ownership but there are gender differences like the holdingof self- acquired houses by elder men is twice that of elder females. There are alsocontrasting results on asset ownership in both rural and urban areas. The inheritedland forms a major part of asset ownership in rural areas but forms a minor part inurban areas.Elder women in both rural and urban areas generally have lower asset23 "