Background: One of the major determinants of the quality of life of elderly subjects is their functional status. This is the individual's ability to live independently and relate to his/her environment or perform normal daily activities for basic needs and carry out normal functions to maintain health and well-being. One of the approaches to study the well-being of the elderly is to study their competence in activities of daily living (ADLs) or a self-care activity that an individual has to perform daily, which is a composite index of the individual's ability to perform some basic functions.

Methodology: A quantitative approach with descriptive comparative design was adopted for the study. The samples from the selected rural and urban areas Belagavi district were selected using purposive sampling technique. The sample consisted of 40 elderly peoples (20 from urban and 20 from rural areas). The tools used for data collection was Katz functional assessment scale and Lawtan instrumental activities of daily living.

Results: Among the urban 09(45%) of them were having full functional status, 07(35%) of them were having moderate impairment in functional status, 04(20%) of them were having sever impairment of functional status, whereas in rural 11(55%) were having full functional status,06(30%) of them were having moderate impairment of functional status, and 03(15%) of them were having severe impairment of functional status. Amonn urban 12(60%) of them were having High function, independent and 08(40%) were had low function, dependent where as in both in rural 06(30%) were having Low function, dependent and 14(70%) high function, independent. There was no significant difference of functional status and instrumental activities of participants of urban and rural areas.

Conclusion: There is a need for family support and health care support system for this population to improve their functional status and their quality of life.