Household debt in different age cohorts: A multilevel study

Figures & data

Figure 1. Changes in population pyramid of Pakistan from 1950–2050.

Note: x-axis: Age in years, y-axis: Population in millions. The dotted line shows the male and females in excess. Source: United Nations (2017).

Table 1. Descriptive statistics

Variable	Mean	Relative frequency	Standard deviation	Min	Max
Household debt (PKR)	100,160.3		259,538	100	8,700,000
Age (years)		0.001 (0–14)
		0.045 (15–24)
		0.656 (25–49)
		0.185 (50–59)
		0.113 (60 and above)
Education (years of schooling)	7.867		3.648	0	23
Employment status		0.110 (employer)
		0.198 (self-employed)
		0.483 (paid employee)
		0.307 (agricultural employment)
Household size (No. of members)	7.167		3.27	1	47
Household financial assets (PKR)	986,786.8		2,932,106	400	115,000,000
Household income (PKR)	176,367.9		255,901.2	50	10,500,000
Marital status		0.03 (never married)
		0.92 (currently married)
		0.04 (widow/widower)
		0.002 (divorcee)
		0.0006 (nikkah rukhsati not taken place)
Gender		0.05 (female)
		0.95 (male)
More than 1 employed		0.553 (yes)
		0.446 (no)

Table 2. Multilevel model three level vs. single level

	Model 1 (Three level)
Parameter	Variance estimate	Standard error	Variance partition coefficient	Intra-class correlation coefficient
Intercept	10.525	0.034
Province level	0.240	0.003	0.115 (0.240/1.508 + 0.240 + 0.331)	0.115 (0.240/1.508 + 0.240 + 0.331)
PSU level	0.331	0.020	0.159 (0.331/1.508 + 0.240 + 0.331)	0.275 (0.240 + 0.331/1.508 + 0.240 + 0.331)
Household level	1.508	0.021	0.726 (1 – 0.115 – 0.159)
Log-likelihood	−23,737.537
Deviance	677.178

Notes: Null model: Single level.

Null model log-likelihood: −24,076.126.

Table 3. Investigation of factors affecting household debt through multilevel mixed effect linear regression

Variables	Model 2	Model 3	Model 4
Age of head of household
Age (25–49 years)		0.0784	0.0731
		(0.0535)	(0.0534)
Age (50–59 years)		0.144**	0.135**
		(0.0581)	(0.0581)
Age (above 60 years)		0.0862	0.0821
		(0.0625)	(0.0625)
Reference category: Age (15–24 years)
Household income (Ln)		0.344***	0.332***
		(0.0125)	(0.0263)
Household assets (Ln)		0.215***	0.213***
		(0.0107)	(0.0107)
Status of employment
Self-employment		−0.441***	−0.441***
		(0.107)	(0.107)
Paid employee		−0.700***	−0.704***
		(0.106)	(0.106)
Agricultural employment		−0.0559	−0.0632
		(0.107)	(0.107)
Reference category: Others (Employer)
Household size		0.0333***	0.0330***
		(0.00359)	(0.00359)
Multiple employments		−0.437	−0.531**
		(0.0233)	(0.233)
Education (Edu/5)		0.500***	0.609***
		(0.0161)	(0.162)
Year of the study
Year (2005/2006)	0.0836***	0.0976**	0.0872**
	(0.0420)	(0.0421)	(0.0420)
Year (2007/2008)	0.144***	0.0244***	0.0410***
	(0.0448)	(0.0431)	(0.0431)
Year (2010/2011)	0.700***	0.141***	0.158***
	(0.0460)	(0.0410)	(0.0410)
Year (2011/2012)	0.708***	0.230***	0.249***
	(0.0430)	(0.0422)	(0.0423)
Year (2013/2014)	1.059***	0.268***	0.289***
	(0.0454)	(0.0427)	(0.0428)
Reference category: Year (2001/2002)
Education× Household income			0.0604***
			(0.0138)
More than 1 employment× Household income			0.0461**
			(0.0201)
Constant	9.996***	1.460*	2.804***
	(0.0649)	(0.808)	(0.854)
Random intercept variations
Province level	0.120	0.113	0.115
PSU level	0.294	0.183	0.183
Household level	1.464	1.180	1.178
Variance partition coefficient (VPC)
Province level	0.064	0.076	0.078
PSU level	0.156	0.124	0.123
Household level	0.780	0.800	0.799
Likelihood ratio	−17,457.421***	−16,159.795***	−16,354.23
Observations	10,509	10,509	10,509

Notes: Dependent variable = Household debt. Standard errors are in parenthesis given under the estimate of each variable.

* p < 0.1.

** p < 0.05.

*** p < 0.01.

Figure 2. Caterpillar plot of residuals at PSU level.

Figure 3. Normal quantile plot of residuals at PSU level.

Table 4. Variance inflation factors of independent variables

Variables	Variance inflation factor
Age (25–49 years)	2.36
Age (50–59 years)	2.28
Age (above 60 years)	2.24
Household income (Ln)	2.11
Household assets (Ln)	2.02
Self-employment against others	1.89
Paid employee against others	1.83
Agricultural employment against others	1.82
Household size	1.79
More than 1 employment	1.30
Education (Edu/5)	1.26
Year (2005/2006)	1.20
Year (2007/2008)	1.15
Year (2010/2011)	1.13
Year (2011/2012)	1.48
Year (2013/2014)	1.24
Education × Household income	2.17
More than 1 employment × Household income	2.76
Mean VIF	1.78

Figure 4. Household debt and household income of different age categories.

Note: x-axis: age categories where 1 = youth (15–24), 2 = young workers (25–49), 3 = mature workers (50–59), 4 = elderly (above 60). y-axis: average amount in PKR

United Nations (2017). World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision. New York, NY: Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division.

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