Achieving equity in education is a central concern for many education systems worldwide (OECD, 2008) and central to Goal 4 of The United Nations’ New Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 which aims to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how SES has been defined, operationalized and used in the analyses in various disciplines such as education, health, or psychology with a particular focus on low- and middle-income countries. It encapsulates communalities, differences and unique approaches across these disciplines. While a comprehensive review of all studies employing socio-economic measures for low- and middle-income countries is beyond the scope of this paper, the primary purpose is to review existing SES measures in two respects: • appropriateness for the use in the contexts of low- and middle-income countries; • appropriateness for creating a globally comparable SES metric. In addition to ‘traditional’ SES indicators used in international, regional and national educational large-scale assessments which are usually related to parental education, parental occupation and wealth, this paper also sources indicators from surveys in the fields of psychology and health.

OECD. (2008). Policy Brief: Ten steps to equity in education. Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/39989494.pdf