89% rural households earn below Rs 5K pm

Bhubaneswar: In a startling revelation, the census report has shown that 88.88% rural households in the State manage their families by earning a meagre Rs 5,000 a month.

According to the Socio Economic and Caste Census Report-2011, released by Union Finance minister Arun Jaitley yesterday, the number of these households stands at 75,78,136 out of a total 86,22,827 rural families.

The report also divulges that 6,31,729 rural families in the State earn between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 and their percentage is 7.33 while 4,10,930 households earn Rs 10,000 or more. The number of rural households with salaried job is 5,86,475 which constitutes 6.8%.

The report further states that 2,20,071 families in rural areas pay income tax or professional tax. Of 98,85,118 households, 12,62,291 families live in urban areas with an average household size of 4.21.

Similarly, while 87.67% families are headed by male persons in the State, 12.31% families are headed by women. Odisha is ranked second lowest in terms of mobile phone penetration with only 33.56 per cent of households owning the gadget.