The proportion of households with more than four earners is higher in villages than in towns and cities. As per the survey, there were 29.52 crore earners in the country in 1994-95 of whom more than 77 per cent lived in villages.

About 34.3 per cent of total family members were found to be earners in rural households. One in every three members of the family was an earner, and one in every five earners was a female at the all-India level.

The NCAER survey found that the veiws of the head of a household prevail to a large extent. In a majority of cases, the chief earner and the head of the household are one and the same person. "The education level of the head of the household is thus considered to be an important social variable, as it would influence his ability to made right decisions."

The head of the household had no formal education in 51 per cent of the households in rural areas and 17 per cent cases in urban areas. At the all-India level, it was 41 per cent.

One in every four households in urban areas was found to be headed by graduates and above, while in rural areas it was one in 50.

In rural areas, 48 per cent of people hold farm land, whereas in urban areas it is only 4 per cent. In villages, as many as 48 per cent households, comprising 44 per cent population, do not own any farm land.

As per the NCAER survey, only 6 per cent of households in rural areas own land more than 3 hectares.

The survey also contains caste-wise information. It subsumes castes in three categories: scheduled castes (SCs), scheduled tribes (STs) and others. At an all-India level, there were 16.6 per cent SC households and 10 per cent ST households. A majority of the SC and SC households derived their income from wage earnings.