India has experienced a significant increase in income inequality in the past decade. It is widely accepted in the literature that income inequality is detrimental to individual health. Against this backdrop, the objective of the paper is to analyze the effect of income inequality on individual health status in the Indian context. We have examined two aspects: the impact of inequality on society in general and whether the effect of inequality is harsher on the poor as compared to the rich. We tested the income inequality hypothesis to answer the research questions. Using two rounds of India Human Development Survey data, a large-scale, nationally representative, panel data set collected in 2004–05 and 2011–12, we found a negative association between income inequality and individual health. Moreover, the poor are found to be the worst sufferers of income inequality and are more sensitive to ill health.

在过去十年中，印度经历了收入不平等的显着增加。文献中普遍认为收入不平等对个人健康有害。在此背景下，本文旨在分析印度背景下收入不平等对个人健康状况的影响。我们研究了两个方面：不平等对整个社会的影响，以及不平等对穷人的影响是否比富人更严重。我们检验了收入不平等假设来回答研究问题。使用两轮印度人类发展调查数据（2004-05 年和 2011-12 年收集的大规模、具有全国代表性的面板数据集），我们发现收入不平等与个人健康之间存在负相关。而且，