| Dimension | Index | Content and interpretation | Cutoff |
| Income | Per capita income of household X1 | Per capita annual income of the household in 2014 (yuan) | ≤2300 |
| Education | Average educational attainment X2 | The average length of education for adults in the family, no schooling = 0, primary school/private school = 6, middle school = 9, general high school/vocational high school/technical school/technical secondary school = 12, junior college = 15, university undergraduate = 16, master’s = 19, doctor’s = 23 | ≤6 |
| Expenditure for education X3 | The proportion of educational expenditure to total household consumption | ≥60% | |
| Accessibility of Public Education X4 | Minimum time required to get home to the nearest school (minutes) | ≥30 | |
| health | Healthy conditions X5 | Lowest health status of family members, very healthy = 5, healthy = 4, general = 3, relatively unhealthy = 2, very unhealthy = 5 | ≤2 |
| Sanitation facilities X6 | Type of house toilet indoor = 3, outdoor flush toilet = 2, outdoor non-flush public toilet/outdoor non-flush toilet = 1 | ≤2 | |
| Expenditure for health X7 | Health expenditure as a percentage of total household consumption | ≥60% | |
| Accessibility of healthcare X8 | Minimum time from home to the nearest medical center (minutes) | ≥30 | |
| living | Cooking water X9 | Types of cooking water in household: pond water/river water = 1, rainwater = 2, spring water = 3, cellar water = 4, deep well water = 5, tap water = 6, mineral water/pure water = 7 | ≤3 |
| Cooking fuel X10 | Types of cooking fuel in household, firewood = 1, coal = 2, gas (liquefied gas) = 3, electricity = 4, natural gas = 5, biogas/solar energy = 6 | ≤2 | |
| Electricity X11 | Situations of electricity in household, no electricity = 1, frequent power outages = 2, occasional power outages = 3, almost no power outages = 4 | ≤2 | |
| Engel’s coefficient X12 | Food expenditure as a percentage of total household consumption | ≥60% | |
| assets | Means of production X13 | The number of production assets such as family cars, motorcycles, and tractors | ≤3 |
| Assisted living assets X14 | Assets of such durable consumer goods as color TV, air conditioner, refrigerator, washing machine, piano, VCD/DVD, VCR/camera, desktop/laptop/pad, etc | ≤3 | |
| Cultivated land quantity X15 | Area of farmland owned by the family (mu) | ≤1.8 | |
| All types of current housing X16 | House ownership, wholly-owned, parent/child provided = 1, The government provides free/company provides free/ other relatives, and friends borrow = 0 | ≤3 | |
| housing | Per capita housing area X17 | Per capita housing area (m2) | ≤12 |
| Congestion X18 | A crowding scale of 1 to 10 indicates a range from very poor to very good | ≤5 | |
| Healthy conditions X19 | On a scale of 1 to 10, the sanitary condition of the house ranges from very poor to very good | ≤5 | |
| Lighting conditions X20 | On a scale of 1 to 10, a house’s lighting condition ranges from very poor to very good | ≤5 | |
| Ventilate conditions X21 | The ventilation of the house ranges from very poor to very good on a scale of 1 to 10 | ≤5 | |
| Air condition X22 | A house with a clean air condition of 1 to 10 indicates a range from very bad to very good | ≤5 | |
| Noisy conditions X23 | House noise conditions range from very poor to very good on a scale of 1 to 10 | ≤5 |