Table 4 Percentage distribution of physical frailty among older males and females by their background characteristics in India, 2017–18

 No

26.9

32.1

5.2

< 0.001

 Yes

31.4

32.7

1.4

0.043

 Young-old

19.2

23.4

4.2

< 0.001

 Old-old

34.8

41.0

6.2

< 0.001

 Oldest-old

51.2

56.5

5.4

< 0.001

 Living alone

46.9

38.9

−8.0

0.946

 Living with spouse

27.0

27.7

0.7

0.183

 Living with children

26.3

31.2

4.9

< 0.001

 Living with others

36.5

42.8

6.4

0.018

 Currently married

24.8

26.1

1.3

0.059

 widowed

39.2

37.6

−1.6

0.827

 Others

34.4

21.7

−12.7

0.116

 Never worked

36.1

32.4

−3.7

0.339

 Currently working

14.0

16.1

2.1

< 0.001

 Currently not working

42.4

41.6

−0.8

0.248

 Retired

23.5

29.9

6.4

0.070

 No

37.6

44.3

6.7

0.034

 Yes

26.6

30.9

4.3

< 0.001

 Good

20.4

24.4

4.0

< 0.001

 Poor

35.3

39.8

4.5

< 0.001

 No

26.0

30.7

4.7

< 0.001

 Yes

43.8

45.4

1.6

0.012

 No

23.7

27.3

3.6

< 0.001

 Yes

42.1

46.5

4.4

0.007

 No

20.4

24.1

3.7

< 0.001

 Yes

38.7

38.4

−0.3

0.472

 0

24.5

29.3

4.8

< 0.001

 1

28.1

32.8

4.7

< 0.001

 2+

33.0

36.5

3.5

< 0.001

 Hindu

27.1

31.8

4.7

< 0.001

 Muslim

29.8

37.2

7.4

< 0.001

 Christian

25.3

32.2

6.8

0.015

 Others

26.9

25.2

−1.7

0.472

 Rural

28.0

33.8

5.8

< 0.001

 Urban

25.8

28.4

2.7

< 0.001

 North

24.2

29.2

5.0

< 0.001

 Central

28.9

35.7

6.8

< 0.001

 East

31.3

36.9

5.6

< 0.001

 Northeast

19.5

26.1

6.6

0.003

 West

19.5

26.1

6.6

< 0.001

 South

30.2

31.7

1.5

< 0.001

Total

27.4

32.2

4.8

< 0.001