The statistic shows the average number of residents living in India's households in 2012, by state and union territory. In that year, Punjab and Arunachal Pradesh had an average of five people living in a household, while the lowest average size was in Tamil Nadu with 3.9 people per household.

Abstract

The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) was carried out as the principal activity of a collaborative project to strengthen the research capabilities of the Population Reasearch Centres (PRCs) in India, initiated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), Government of India, and coordinated by the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Bombay. Interviews were conducted with a nationally representative sample of 89,777 ever-married women in the age group 13-49, from 24 states and the National Capital Territoty of Delhi. The main objective of the survey was to collect reliable and up-to-date information on fertility, family planning, mortality, and maternal and child health. Data collection was carried out in three phases from April 1992 to September 1993. THe NFHS is one of the most complete surveys of its kind ever conducted in India.

The households covered in the survey included 500,492 residents. The young age structure of the population highlights the momentum of the future population growth of the country; 38 percent of household residents are under age 15, with their reproductive years still in the future. Persons age 60 or older constitute 8 percent of the population. The population sex ratio of the de jure residents is 944 females per 1,000 males, which is slightly higher than sex ratio of 927 observed in the 1991 Census.

The primary objective of the NFHS is to provide national-level and state-level data on fertility, nuptiality, family size preferences, knowledge and practice of family planning, the potentiel demand for contraception, the level of unwanted fertility, utilization of antenatal services, breastfeeding and food supplemation practises, child nutrition and health, immunizations, and infant and child mortality. The NFHS is also designed to explore the demographic and socioeconomic determinants of fertility, family planning, and maternal and child health. This information is intended to assist policymakers, adminitrators and researchers in assessing and evaluating population and family welfare programmes and strategies. The NFHS used uniform questionnaires and uniform methods of sampling, data collection and analysis with the primary objective of providing a source of demographic and health data for interstate comparisons. The data collected in the NFHS are also comparable with those of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted in many other countries.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

• Household
• Data collected for women 13-49, indicators calculated for women 15-49

Universe

The population covered by the 1992-93 DHS is defined as the universe of all women age 13-49 who were either permanent residents of the households in the NDHS sample or visitors present in the households on the night before the survey were eligible to be interviewed.

Kind of data

Sample survey data

Sampling procedure

SAMPLE DESIGN

The sample design for the NFHS was discussed during a Sample Design Workshop held in Madurai in Octber, 1991. The workshop was attended by representative from the PRCs; the COs; the Office of the Registrar General, India; IIPS and the East-West Center/Macro International. A uniform sample design was adopted in all the NFHS states. The Sample design adopted in each state is a systematic, stratified sample of households, with two stages in rural areas and three stages in urban areas.

SAMPLE SIZE AND ALLOCATION

The sample size for each state was specified in terms of a target number of completed interviews with eligible women. The target sample size was set considering the size of the state, the time and ressources available for the survey and the need for separate estimates for urban and rural areas of the stat. The initial target sample size was 3,000 completed interviews with eligible women for states having a population of 25 million or less in 1991; 4,000 completed interviews for large states with more than 25 million population; 8,000 for Uttar Pradesh, the largest state; and 1,000 each for the six small northeastern states. In States with a substantial number of backward districts, the initial target samples were increased so as to allow separate estimates to be made for groups of backward districts.

The urban and rural samples within states were drawn separetly and , to the extent possible, sample allocation was proportional to the size of the urban-rural populations (to facilitate the selection of a self-weighting sample for each state). In states where the urban population was not sufficiently large to provide a sample of at least 1,000 completed interviews with eligible women, the urban areas were appropriately oversampled (except in the six small northeastern states).

THE RURAL SAMPLE: THE FRAME, STRATIFICATION AND SELECTION

A two-stage stratified sampling was adopted for the rural areas: selection of villages followed by selection of households. Because the 1991 Census data were not available at the time of sample selection in most states, the 1981 Census list of villages served as the sampling frame in all the states with the exception of Assam, Delhi and Punjab. In these three states the 1991 Census data were used as the sampling frame.

Villages were stratified prior to selection on the basis of a number of variables. The firts level of stratification in all the states was geographic, with districts subdivided into regions according to their geophysical characteristics. Within each of these regions, villages were further stratified using some of the following variables : village size, distance from the nearest town, proportion of nonagricultural workers, proportion of the population belonging to scheduled castes/scheduled tribes, and female literacy. However, not all variables were used in every state. Each state was examined individually and two or three variables were selected for stratification, with the aim of creating not more than 12 strata for small states and not more than 15 strata for large states. Females literacy was often used for implicit stratification (i.e., the villages were ordered prior to selection according to the proportion of females who were literate). Primary sampling Units (PSUs) were selected systematically, with probaility proportional to size (PPS). In some cases, adjacent villages with small population sizes were combined into a single PSU for the purpose of sample selection. On average, 30 households were selected for interviewing in each selected PSU.

In every state, all the households in the selected PSUs were listed about two weeks prior to the survey. This listing provided the necessary frame for selecting households at the second sampling stage. The household listing operation consisted of preparing up-to-date notional and layout sketch maps of each selected PSU, assigning numbers to structures, recording addresses (or locations) of these structures, identifying the residential structures, and listing the names of the heads of all the households in the residentiak structures in the selected PSU. Each household listing team consisted of a lister and a mapper. The listing operation was supervised by the senior field staff of the concerned CO and the PRC in each state. Special efforts were made not to miss any household in the selected PSU during the listing operation. In PSUs with fewer than 500 households, a complete household listing was done. In PSUs with 500 or more households, segmentation of the PSU was done on the basis of existing wards in the PSU, and two segments were selected using either systematic sampling or PPS sampling. The household listing in such PSUs was carried out in the selected segments. The households to be interviewed were selected from provided with the original household listing, layout sketch map and the household sample selected for each PSU. All the selected households were approached during the data collection, and no substitution of a household was allowed under any circumstances.

THE RURAL URBAN SAMPLE: THE FRAME, STRATIFICATION AND SELECTION

A three-stage sample design was adopted for the urban areas in each state: selection of cities/towns, followed by urban blocks, and finally households. Cities and towns were selected using the 1991 population figures while urban blocks were selected using the 1991 list of census enumeration blocks in all the states with the exception of the firts phase states. For the first phase states, the list of urban blocks provided by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSSO) served as the sampling frame.

All cities and towns were subdivided into three strata: (1) self-selecting cities (i.e., cities with a population large enough to be selected with certainty), (2) towns that are district headquaters, and (3) other towns. Within each stratum, the cities/towns were arranged according to the same kind of geographic stratification used in the rural areas. In self-selecting cities, the sample was selected according to a two-stage sample design: selection of the required number of urban blocks, followed by selection of households in each of selected blocks. For district headquarters and other towns, a three stage sample design was used: selection of towns with PPS, followed by selection of two census blocks per selected town, followed by selection of households from each selected block. As in rural areas, a household listing was carried out in the selected blocks, and an average of 20 households per block was selected systematically.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face

Research instrument

Three types of questionnaires were used in the NFHS: the Household Questionnaire, the Women's Questionnaire, and the Village Questionnaire. The overall content

Most households in India between 2019 and 2021 had between ***** and **** people. The number of ****-people households accounted for over ** percent during the survey period. Interestingly, about **** percent reported **** or more people in one household. Rural areas had a higher share of households with **** or more members.

Abstract

The National Family Health Survey 2019-21 (NFHS-5), the fifth in the NFHS series, provides information on population, health, and nutrition for India, each state/union territory (UT), and for 707 districts.

The primary objective of the 2019-21 round of National Family Health Surveys is to provide essential data on health and family welfare, as well as data on emerging issues in these areas, such as levels of fertility, infant and child mortality, maternal and child health, and other health and family welfare indicators by background characteristics at the national and state levels. Similar to NFHS-4, NFHS-5 also provides information on several emerging issues including perinatal mortality, high-risk sexual behaviour, safe injections, tuberculosis, noncommunicable diseases, and the use of emergency contraception.

The information collected through NFHS-5 is intended to assist policymakers and programme managers in setting benchmarks and examining progress over time in India’s health sector. Besides providing evidence on the effectiveness of ongoing programmes, NFHS-5 data will help to identify the need for new programmes in specific health areas.

The clinical, anthropometric, and biochemical (CAB) component of NFHS-5 is designed to provide vital estimates of the prevalence of malnutrition, anaemia, hypertension, high blood glucose levels, and waist and hip circumference, Vitamin D3, HbA1c, and malaria parasites through a series of biomarker tests and measurements.

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

• Household
• Individual
• Children age 0-5
• Woman age 15-49
• Man age 15 to 54

Universe

The survey covered all de jure household members (usual residents), all women aged 15-49, all men age 15-54, and all children aged 0-5 resident in the household.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

A uniform sample design, which is representative at the national, state/union territory, and district level, was adopted in each round of the survey. Each district is stratified into urban and rural areas. Each rural stratum is sub-stratified into smaller substrata which are created considering the village population and the percentage of the population belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (SC/ST). Within each explicit rural sampling stratum, a sample of villages was selected as Primary Sampling Units (PSUs); before the PSU selection, PSUs were sorted according to the literacy rate of women age 6+ years. Within each urban sampling stratum, a sample of Census Enumeration Blocks (CEBs) was selected as PSUs. Before the PSU selection, PSUs were sorted according to the percentage of SC/ST population. In the second stage of selection, a fixed number of 22 households per cluster was selected with an equal probability systematic selection from a newly created list of households in the selected PSUs. The list of households was created as a result of the mapping and household listing operation conducted in each selected PSU before the household selection in the second stage. In all, 30,456 Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) were selected across the country in NFHS-5 drawn from 707 districts as on March 31st 2017, of which fieldwork was completed in 30,198 PSUs.

For further details on sample design, see Section 1.2 of the final report.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]

Research instrument

Four survey schedules/questionnaires: Household, Woman, Man, and Biomarker were canvassed in 18 local languages using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI).

Cleaning operations

Electronic data collected in the 2019-21 National Family Health Survey were received on a daily basis via the SyncCloud system at the International Institute for Population Sciences, where the data were stored on a password-protected computer. Secondary editing of the data, which required resolution of computer-identified inconsistencies and coding of open-ended questions, was conducted in the field by the Field Agencies and at the Field Agencies central office, and IIPS checked the secondary edits before the dataset was finalized.

Field-check tables were produced by IIPS and the Field Agencies on a regular basis to identify certain types of errors that might have occurred in eliciting information and recording question responses. Information from the field-check tables on the performance of each fieldwork team and individual investigator was promptly shared with the Field Agencies during the fieldwork so that the performance of the teams could be improved, if required.

Response rate

A total of 664,972 households were selected for the sample, of which 653,144 were occupied. Among the occupied households, 636,699 were successfully interviewed, for a response rate of 98 percent.

In the interviewed households, 747,176 eligible women age 15-49 were identified for individual women’s interviews. Interviews were completed with 724,115 women, for a response rate of 97 percent. In all, there were 111,179 eligible men age 15-54 in households selected for the state module. Interviews were completed with 101,839 men, for a response rate of 92 percent.

Abstract

The second National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2), conducted in 1998-99, provides information on fertility, mortality, family planning, and important aspects of nutrition, health, and health care. The International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) coordinated the survey, which collected information from a nationally representative sample of more than 90,000 ever-married women age 15-49. The NFHS-2 sample covers 99 percent of India's population living in all 26 states. This report is based on the survey data for 25 of the 26 states, however, since data collection in Tripura was delayed due to local problems in the state.

IIPS also coordinated the first National Family Health Survey (NFHS-1) in 1992-93. Most of the types of information collected in NFHS-2 were also collected in the earlier survey, making it possible to identify trends over the intervening period of six and one-half years. In addition, the NFHS-2 questionnaire covered a number of new or expanded topics with important policy implications, such as reproductive health, women's autonomy, domestic violence, women's nutrition, anaemia, and salt iodization.

The NFHS-2 survey was carried out in two phases. Ten states were surveyed in the first phase which began in November 1998 and the remaining states (except Tripura) were surveyed in the second phase which began in March 1999. The field staff collected information from 91,196 households in these 25 states and interviewed 89,199 eligible women in these households. In addition, the survey collected information on 32,393 children born in the three years preceding the survey. One health investigator on each survey team measured the height and weight of eligible women and children and took blood samples to assess the prevalence of anaemia.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS

Three-quarters (73 percent) of the population lives in rural areas. The age distribution is typical of populations that have recently experienced a fertility decline, with relatively low proportions in the younger and older age groups. Thirty-six percent of the population is below age 15, and 5 percent is age 65 and above. The sex ratio is 957 females for every 1,000 males in rural areas but only 928 females for every 1,000 males in urban areas, suggesting that more men than women have migrated to urban areas.

The survey provides a variety of demographic and socioeconomic background information. In the country as a whole, 82 percent of household heads are Hindu, 12 percent are Muslim, 3 percent are Christian, and 2 percent are Sikh. Muslims live disproportionately in urban areas, where they comprise 15 percent of household heads. Nineteen percent of household heads belong to scheduled castes, 9 percent belong to scheduled tribes, and 32 percent belong to other backward classes (OBCs). Two-fifths of household heads do not belong to any of these groups.

Questions about housing conditions and the standard of living of households indicate some improvements since the time of NFHS-1. Sixty percent of households in India now have electricity and 39 percent have piped drinking water compared with 51 percent and 33 percent, respectively, at the time of NFHS-1. Sixty-four percent of households have no toilet facility compared with 70 percent at the time of NFHS-1.

About three-fourths (75 percent) of males and half (51 percent) of females age six and above are literate, an increase of 6-8 percentage points from literacy rates at the time of NFHS-1. The percentage of illiterate males varies from 6-7 percent in Mizoram and Kerala to 37 percent in Bihar and the percentage of illiterate females varies from 11 percent in Mizoram and 15 percent in Kerala to 65 percent in Bihar. Seventy-nine percent of children age 6-14 are attending school, up from 68 percent in NFHS-1. The proportion of children attending school has increased for all ages, particularly for girls, but girls continue to lag behind boys in school attendance. Moreover, the disparity in school attendance by sex grows with increasing age of children. At age 6-10, 85 percent of boys attend school compared with 78 percent of girls. By age 15-17, 58 percent of boys attend school compared with 40 percent of girls. The percentage of girls 6-17 attending school varies from 51 percent in Bihar and 56 percent in Rajasthan to over 90 percent in Himachal Pradesh and Kerala.

Women in India tend to marry at an early age. Thirty-four percent of women age 15-19 are already married including 4 percent who are married but gauna has yet to be performed. These proportions are even higher in the rural areas. Older women are more likely than younger women to have married at an early age: 39 percent of women currently age 45-49 married before age 15 compared with 14 percent of women currently age 15-19. Although this indicates that the proportion of women who marry young is declining rapidly, half the women even in the age group 20-24 have married before reaching the legal minimum age of 18 years. On average, women are five years younger than the men they marry. The median age at marriage varies from about 15 years in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh to 23 years in Goa.

As part of an increasing emphasis on gender issues, NFHS-2 asked women about their participation in household decisionmaking. In India, 91 percent of women are involved in decision-making on at least one of four selected topics. A much lower proportion (52 percent), however, are involved in making decisions about their own health care. There are large variations among states in India with regard to women's involvement in household decisionmaking. More than three out of four women are involved in decisions about their own health care in Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Punjab compared with about two out of five or less in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Rajasthan. Thirty-nine percent of women do work other than housework, and more than two-thirds of these women work for cash. Only 41 percent of women who earn cash can decide independently how to spend the money that they earn. Forty-three percent of working women report that their earnings constitute at least half of total family earnings, including 18 percent who report that the family is entirely dependent on their earnings. Women's work-participation rates vary from 9 percent in Punjab and 13 percent in Haryana to 60-70 percent in Manipur, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh.

FERTILITY AND FAMILY PLANNING

Fertility continues to decline in India. At current fertility levels, women will have an average of 2.9 children each throughout their childbearing years. The total fertility rate (TFR) is down from 3.4 children per woman at the time of NFHS-1, but is still well above the replacement level of just over two children per woman. There are large variations in fertility among the states in India. Goa and Kerala have attained below replacement level fertility and Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Punjab are at or close to replacement level fertility. By contrast, fertility is 3.3 or more children per woman in Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Nagaland, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh. More than one-third to less than half of all births in these latter states are fourth or higher-order births compared with 7-9 percent of births in Kerala, Goa, and Tamil Nadu.

Efforts to encourage the trend towards lower fertility might usefully focus on groups within the population that have higher fertility than average. In India, rural women and women from scheduled tribes and scheduled castes have somewhat higher fertility than other women, but fertility is particularly high for illiterate women, poor women, and Muslim women. Another striking feature is the high level of childbearing among young women. More than half of women age 20-49 had their first birth before reaching age 20, and women age 15-19 account for almost one-fifth of total fertility. Studies in India and elsewhere have shown that health and mortality risks increase when women give birth at such young ages?both for the women themselves and for their children. Family planning programmes focusing on women in this age group could make a significant impact on maternal and child health and help to reduce fertility.

INFANT AND CHILD MORTALITY

NFHS-2 provides estimates of infant and child mortality and examines factors associated with the survival of young children. During the five years preceding the survey, the infant mortality rate was 68 deaths at age 0-11 months per 1,000 live births, substantially lower than 79 per 1,000 in the five years preceding the NFHS-1 survey. The child mortality rate, 29 deaths at age 1-4 years per 1,000 children reaching age one, also declined from the corresponding rate of 33 per 1,000 in NFHS-1. Ninety-five children out of 1,000 born do not live to age five years. Expressed differently, 1 in 15 children die in the first year of life, and 1 in 11 die before reaching age five. Child-survival programmes might usefully focus on specific groups of children with particularly high infant and child mortality rates, such as children who live in rural areas, children whose mothers are illiterate, children belonging to scheduled castes or scheduled tribes, and children from poor households. Infant mortality rates are more than two and one-half times as high for women who did not receive any of the recommended types of maternity related medical care than for mothers who did receive all recommended types of care.

HEALTH, HEALTH CARE, AND NUTRITION

Promotion of maternal and child health has been one of the most important components of the Family Welfare Programme of the Government of India. One goal is for each pregnant woman to receive at least three antenatal check-ups plus two tetanus toxoid injections and a full course of iron and folic acid supplementation. In India, mothers of 65 percent of the children

In 2019, the average household size of Hindus in Asia-Pacific was *** people per household. In comparison, Hindus in sub-Saharan Africa had the smallest average household size, at *** people per household. The majority of Hindus live in India.

NOTE: For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/doc/aiansf.pdf. The American Indian and Alaska Native Summary File has a population threshold of 100. Data are available only for the population groups having a population of 100 or more of that specific group within a particular geographic area..Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census..NOTE 2: "Families" consist of a householder and one or more other people related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. They do not include same-sex married couples even if the marriage was performed in a state issuing marriage certificates for same-sex couples. Responses of "same-sex spouse" were edited during processing to "unmarried partner.".NOTE 1: When a category other than Total Population is selected, the data in this table refer to the tribe/tribal grouping of the householder.

The dataset contains year-, state-, region- and fractile-class-wise compiled data on average number of meals consumed per Household (rural/urban) per month at home and away from home - by payment or at free of cost at places such as school, balwadi, employment and other places. The dataset has been compiled from table nos. 7, 6R, 1R, 1A-R and 1 from NSS 50th, 55th, 61st, 66th and 68th round reports, respectively.

According to a survey conducted in 2015 across India, over ** percent of the surveyed households had an average monthly income up to 10,000 Indian rupees. This percentage varied among the rural and urban areas, where over ** percent of the rural households and ** percent of the urban households earned up to 10,000 Indian rupees monthly. India had a high rate of rural to urban migration, as Indian cities provided better standards of living and employment opportunities.

Multiple income generators

For most of the population, income is earned in form of wages or salary, rent from residential or commercial property, interest from financial investments, and profits from family businesses. Most Indian households have multiple earning members to support consumption expenses on a day to day basis. During the surveyed year, around ** percent of the households had a single earner, mostly the head of the family, followed by about ** percent of households with two earning members.

Employment scenario

There are a lot of uncertainties in the job market in India. Non-availability of jobs matching education and skills was one of the main reasons for unemployment among Indian graduates. Underemployment was also a problem, and it was higher in urban areas than rural ones. Even though a majority of the population was self-employed, most jobs taken by workers had no written job contracts in both the salaried and casual employment sectors.

The dataset contains state-, region- and gender-wise NSS 78th round compiled data on Average Size and Total Number of Households, and Total Number of Persons (by Gender) in India

The second National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2), conducted in 1998-99, provides information on fertility, mortality, family planning, and important aspects of nutrition, health, and health care. The International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) coordinated the survey, which collected information from a nationally representative sample of more than 90,000 ever-married women age 15-49. The NFHS-2 sample covers 99 percent of India's population living in all 26 states. This report is based on the survey data for 25 of the 26 states, however, since data collection in Tripura was delayed due to local problems in the state. IIPS also coordinated the first National Family Health Survey (NFHS-1) in 1992-93. Most of the types of information collected in NFHS-2 were also collected in the earlier survey, making it possible to identify trends over the intervening period of six and one-half years. In addition, the NFHS-2 questionnaire covered a number of new or expanded topics with important policy implications, such as reproductive health, women's autonomy, domestic violence, women's nutrition, anaemia, and salt iodization. The NFHS-2 survey was carried out in two phases. Ten states were surveyed in the first phase which began in November 1998 and the remaining states (except Tripura) were surveyed in the second phase which began in March 1999. The field staff collected information from 91,196 households in these 25 states and interviewed 89,199 eligible women in these households. In addition, the survey collected information on 32,393 children born in the three years preceding the survey. One health investigator on each survey team measured the height and weight of eligible women and children and took blood samples to assess the prevalence of anaemia. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS Three-quarters (73 percent) of the population lives in rural areas. The age distribution is typical of populations that have recently experienced a fertility decline, with relatively low proportions in the younger and older age groups. Thirty-six percent of the population is below age 15, and 5 percent is age 65 and above. The sex ratio is 957 females for every 1,000 males in rural areas but only 928 females for every 1,000 males in urban areas, suggesting that more men than women have migrated to urban areas. The survey provides a variety of demographic and socioeconomic background information. In the country as a whole, 82 percent of household heads are Hindu, 12 percent are Muslim, 3 percent are Christian, and 2 percent are Sikh. Muslims live disproportionately in urban areas, where they comprise 15 percent of household heads. Nineteen percent of household heads belong to scheduled castes, 9 percent belong to scheduled tribes, and 32 percent belong to other backward classes (OBCs). Two-fifths of household heads do not belong to any of these groups. Questions about housing conditions and the standard of living of households indicate some improvements since the time of NFHS-1. Sixty percent of households in India now have electricity and 39 percent have piped drinking water compared with 51 percent and 33 percent, respectively, at the time of NFHS-1. Sixty-four percent of households have no toilet facility compared with 70 percent at the time of NFHS-1. About three-fourths (75 percent) of males and half (51 percent) of females age six and above are literate, an increase of 6-8 percentage points from literacy rates at the time of NFHS-1. The percentage of illiterate males varies from 6-7 percent in Mizoram and Kerala to 37 percent in Bihar and the percentage of illiterate females varies from 11 percent in Mizoram and 15 percent in Kerala to 65 percent in Bihar. Seventy-nine percent of children age 6-14 are attending school, up from 68 percent in NFHS-1. The proportion of children attending school has increased for all ages, particularly for girls, but girls continue to lag behind boys in school attendance. Moreover, the disparity in school attendance by sex grows with increasing age of children. At age 6-10, 85 percent of boys attend school compared with 78 percent of girls. By age 15-17, 58 percent of boys attend school compared with 40 percent of girls. The percentage of girls 6-17 attending school varies from 51 percent in Bihar and 56 percent in Rajasthan to over 90 percent in Himachal Pradesh and Kerala. Women in India tend to marry at an early age. Thirty-four percent of women age 15-19 are already married including 4 percent who are married but gauna has yet to be performed. These proportions are even higher in the rural areas. Older women are more likely than younger women to have married at an early age: 39 percent of women currently age 45-49 married before age 15 compared with 14 percent of women currently age 15-19. Although this indicates that the proportion of women who marry young is declining rapidly, half the women even in the age group 20-24 have married before reaching the legal minimum age of 18 years. On average, women are five years younger than the men they marry. The median age at marriage varies from about 15 years in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh to 23 years in Goa. As part of an increasing emphasis on gender issues, NFHS-2 asked women about their participation in household decisionmaking. In India, 91 percent of women are involved in decision-making on at least one of four selected topics. A much lower proportion (52 percent), however, are involved in making decisions about their own health care. There are large variations among states in India with regard to women's involvement in household decisionmaking. More than three out of four women are involved in decisions about their own health care in Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Punjab compared with about two out of five or less in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Rajasthan. Thirty-nine percent of women do work other than housework, and more than two-thirds of these women work for cash. Only 41 percent of women who earn cash can decide independently how to spend the money that they earn. Forty-three percent of working women report that their earnings constitute at least half of total family earnings, including 18 percent who report that the family is entirely dependent on their earnings. Women's work-participation rates vary from 9 percent in Punjab and 13 percent in Haryana to 60-70 percent in Manipur, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh. FERTILITY AND FAMILY PLANNING Fertility continues to decline in India. At current fertility levels, women will have an average of 2.9 children each throughout their childbearing years. The total fertility rate (TFR) is down from 3.4 children per woman at the time of NFHS-1, but is still well above the replacement level of just over two children per woman. There are large variations in fertility among the states in India. Goa and Kerala have attained below replacement level fertility and Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Punjab are at or close to replacement level fertility. By contrast, fertility is 3.3 or more children per woman in Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Nagaland, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh. More than one-third to less than half of all births in these latter states are fourth or higher-order births compared with 7-9 percent of births in Kerala, Goa, and Tamil Nadu. Efforts to encourage the trend towards lower fertility might usefully focus on groups within the population that have higher fertility than average. In India, rural women and women from scheduled tribes and scheduled castes have somewhat higher fertility than other women, but fertility is particularly high for illiterate women, poor women, and Muslim women. Another striking feature is the high level of childbearing among young women. More than half of women age 20-49 had their first birth before reaching age 20, and women age 15-19 account for almost one-fifth of total fertility. Studies in India and elsewhere have shown that health and mortality risks increase when women give birth at such young ages?both for the women themselves and for their children. Family planning programmes focusing on women in this age group could make a significant impact on maternal and child health and help to reduce fertility. INFANT AND CHILD MORTALITY NFHS-2 provides estimates of infant and child mortality and examines factors associated with the survival of young children. During the five years preceding the survey, the infant mortality rate was 68 deaths at age 0-11 months per 1,000 live births, substantially lower than 79 per 1,000 in the five years preceding the NFHS-1 survey. The child mortality rate, 29 deaths at age 1-4 years per 1,000 children reaching age one, also declined from the corresponding rate of 33 per 1,000 in NFHS-1. Ninety-five children out of 1,000 born do not live to age five years. Expressed differently, 1 in 15 children die in the first year of life, and 1 in 11 die before reaching age five. Child-survival programmes might usefully focus on specific groups of children with particularly high infant and child mortality rates, such as children who live in rural areas, children whose mothers are illiterate, children belonging to scheduled castes or scheduled tribes, and children from poor households. Infant mortality rates are more than two and one-half times as high for women who did not receive any of the recommended types of maternity related medical care than for mothers who did receive all recommended types of care. HEALTH, HEALTH CARE, AND NUTRITION Promotion of maternal and child health has been one of the most important components of the Family Welfare Programme of the Government of India. One goal is for each pregnant woman to receive at least three antenatal check-ups plus two tetanus toxoid injections and a full course of iron and folic acid supplementation. In India, mothers of 65 percent of the children born in the three years preceding NFHS-2 received at least one antenatal

The second National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2), conducted in 1998-99, provides information on fertility, mortality, family planning, and important aspects of nutrition, health, and health care. The International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) coordinated the survey, which collected information from a nationally representative sample of more than 90,000 ever-married women age 15-49. The NFHS-2 sample covers 99 percent of India's population living in all 26 states. This report is based on the survey data for 25 of the 26 states, however, since data collection in Tripura was delayed due to local problems in the state.

IIPS also coordinated the first National Family Health Survey (NFHS-1) in 1992-93. Most of the types of information collected in NFHS-2 were also collected in the earlier survey, making it possible to identify trends over the intervening period of six and one-half years. In addition, the NFHS-2 questionnaire covered a number of new or expanded topics with important policy implications, such as reproductive health, women's autonomy, domestic violence, women's nutrition, anaemia, and salt iodization.

The NFHS-2 survey was carried out in two phases. Ten states were surveyed in the first phase which began in November 1998 and the remaining states (except Tripura) were surveyed in the second phase which began in March 1999. The field staff collected information from 91,196 households in these 25 states and interviewed 89,199 eligible women in these households. In addition, the survey collected information on 32,393 children born in the three years preceding the survey. One health investigator on each survey team measured the height and weight of eligible women and children and took blood samples to assess the prevalence of anaemia.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS

Three-quarters (73 percent) of the population lives in rural areas. The age distribution is typical of populations that have recently experienced a fertility decline, with relatively low proportions in the younger and older age groups. Thirty-six percent of the population is below age 15, and 5 percent is age 65 and above. The sex ratio is 957 females for every 1,000 males in rural areas but only 928 females for every 1,000 males in urban areas, suggesting that more men than women have migrated to urban areas.

The survey provides a variety of demographic and socioeconomic background information. In the country as a whole, 82 percent of household heads are Hindu, 12 percent are Muslim, 3 percent are Christian, and 2 percent are Sikh. Muslims live disproportionately in urban areas, where they comprise 15 percent of household heads. Nineteen percent of household heads belong to scheduled castes, 9 percent belong to scheduled tribes, and 32 percent belong to other backward classes (OBCs). Two-fifths of household heads do not belong to any of these groups.

Questions about housing conditions and the standard of living of households indicate some improvements since the time of NFHS-1. Sixty percent of households in India now have electricity and 39 percent have piped drinking water compared with 51 percent and 33 percent, respectively, at the time of NFHS-1. Sixty-four percent of households have no toilet facility compared with 70 percent at the time of NFHS-1.

About three-fourths (75 percent) of males and half (51 percent) of females age six and above are literate, an increase of 6-8 percentage points from literacy rates at the time of NFHS-1. The percentage of illiterate males varies from 6-7 percent in Mizoram and Kerala to 37 percent in Bihar and the percentage of illiterate females varies from 11 percent in Mizoram and 15 percent in Kerala to 65 percent in Bihar. Seventy-nine percent of children age 6-14 are attending school, up from 68 percent in NFHS-1. The proportion of children attending school has increased for all ages, particularly for girls, but girls continue to lag behind boys in school attendance. Moreover, the disparity in school attendance by sex grows with increasing age of children. At age 6-10, 85 percent of boys attend school compared with 78 percent of girls. By age 15-17, 58 percent of boys attend school compared with 40 percent of girls. The percentage of girls 6-17 attending school varies from 51 percent in Bihar and 56 percent in Rajasthan to over 90 percent in Himachal Pradesh and Kerala.

Women in India tend to marry at an early age. Thirty-four percent of women age 15-19 are already married including 4 percent who are married but gauna has yet to be performed. These proportions are even higher in the rural areas. Older women are more likely than younger women to have married at an early age: 39 percent of women currently age 45-49 married before age 15 compared with 14 percent of women currently age 15-19. Although this indicates that the proportion of women who marry young is declining rapidly, half the women even in the age group 20-24 have married before reaching the legal minimum age of 18 years. On average, women are five years younger than the men they marry. The median age at marriage varies from about 15 years in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh to 23 years in Goa.

As part of an increasing emphasis on gender issues, NFHS-2 asked women about their participation in household decisionmaking. In India, 91 percent of women are involved in decision-making on at least one of four selected topics. A much lower proportion (52 percent), however, are involved in making decisions about their own health care. There are large variations among states in India with regard to women's involvement in household decisionmaking. More than three out of four women are involved in decisions about their own health care in Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Punjab compared with about two out of five or less in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Rajasthan. Thirty-nine percent of women do work other than housework, and more than two-thirds of these women work for cash. Only 41 percent of women who earn cash can decide independently how to spend the money that they earn. Forty-three percent of working women report that their earnings constitute at least half of total family earnings, including 18 percent who report that the family is entirely dependent on their earnings. Women's work-participation rates vary from 9 percent in Punjab and 13 percent in Haryana to 60-70 percent in Manipur, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh.

FERTILITY AND FAMILY PLANNING

Fertility continues to decline in India. At current fertility levels, women will have an average of 2.9 children each throughout their childbearing years. The total fertility rate (TFR) is down from 3.4 children per woman at the time of NFHS-1, but is still well above the replacement level of just over two children per woman. There are large variations in fertility among the states in India. Goa and Kerala have attained below replacement level fertility and Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Punjab are at or close to replacement level fertility. By contrast, fertility is 3.3 or more children per woman in Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Nagaland, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh. More than one-third to less than half of all births in these latter states are fourth or higher-order births compared with 7-9 percent of births in Kerala, Goa, and Tamil Nadu.

Efforts to encourage the trend towards lower fertility might usefully focus on groups within the population that have higher fertility than average. In India, rural women and women from scheduled tribes and scheduled castes have somewhat higher fertility than other women, but fertility is particularly high for illiterate women, poor women, and Muslim women. Another striking feature is the high level of childbearing among young women. More than half of women age 20-49 had their first birth before reaching age 20, and women age 15-19 account for almost one-fifth of total fertility. Studies in India and elsewhere have shown that health and mortality risks increase when women give birth at such young ages?both for the women themselves and for their children. Family planning programmes focusing on women in this age group could make a significant impact on maternal and child health and help to reduce fertility.

INFANT AND CHILD MORTALITY

NFHS-2 provides estimates of infant and child mortality and examines factors associated with the survival of young children. During the five years preceding the survey, the infant mortality rate was 68 deaths at age 0-11 months per 1,000 live births, substantially lower than 79 per 1,000 in the five years preceding the NFHS-1 survey. The child mortality rate, 29 deaths at age 1-4 years per 1,000 children reaching age one, also declined from the corresponding rate of 33 per 1,000 in NFHS-1. Ninety-five children out of 1,000 born do not live to age five years. Expressed differently, 1 in 15 children die in the first year of life, and 1 in 11 die before reaching age five. Child-survival programmes might usefully focus on specific groups of children with particularly high infant and child mortality rates, such as children who live in rural areas, children whose mothers are illiterate, children belonging to scheduled castes or scheduled tribes, and children from poor households. Infant mortality rates are more than two and one-half times as high for women who did not receive any of the recommended types of maternity related medical care than for mothers who did receive all recommended types of care.

HEALTH, HEALTH CARE, AND NUTRITION

Promotion of maternal and child health has been one of the most important components of the Family Welfare Programme of the Government of India. One goal is for each pregnant woman to receive at least three antenatal check-ups plus two tetanus toxoid injections and a full course of iron and folic acid

Geographic coverage

The survey covered the whole of the Indian Union except (i) Leh (Ladakh) and Kargil districts of Jammu & Kashmir (for central sample), (ii) interior villages of Nagaland situated beyond five kilometres of the bus route and (iii) villages in Andaman and Nicobar Islands which remain inaccessible throughout the year.

Analysis unit

Household, Individual

Universe

The following rules regarding the population to be covered were applied in listing of households and persons:

1. Under-trial prisoners in jails and indoor patients of hospitals, nursing homes etc., are to be excluded, but residential staff therein will be listed while listing is done in such institutions. The persons of the first category will be considered as normal members of their parent households and will be counted there. Convicted prisoners undergoing sentence will be outside the coverage of the survey.

2. Floating population, i.e., persons without any normal residence will not be listed. But households residing in open space, roadside shelter, under a bridge, etc., more or less regularly in the same place, will be listed.

3. Foreign nationals will not be listed, nor their domestic servants, if by definition the latter belong to the foreign national's household. If, however, a foreign national becomes an Indian citizen for all practical purposes, he or she will be covered.

4. Persons residing in barracks of military and paramilitary forces (like police, BSF, etc.) will be kept outside the survey coverage due to difficulty in conduct of survey therein. However, civilian population residing in their neighbourhood, including the family quarters of service personnel, are to be covered. Permission for this may have to be obtained from appropriate authorities.

5. Orphanages, rescue homes, ashrams and vagrant houses are outside the survey coverage. However, persons staying in old age homes, students staying in ashrams/ hostels and the residential staff (other than monks/ nuns) of these ashrams may be listed. For orphanages, although orphans are not to be listed, the persons looking after them and staying there may be considered for listing.

DEFINITION OF A HOUSEHOLD:

A group of persons normally living together and taking food from a common kitchen will constitute a household. It will include temporary stay-aways (those whose total period of absence from the household is expected to be less than 6 months) but exclude temporary visitors and guests (expected total period of stay less than 6 months). Even though the determination of the actual composition of a household will be left to the judgment of the head of the household, the following procedures will be adopted as guidelines.

(i) Each inmate (including residential staff) of a hostel, mess, hotel, boarding and lodging house, etc., will constitute a single-member household. If, however, a group of persons among them normally pool their income for spending, they will together be treated as forming a single household. For example, a family living in a hotel will be treated as a single household.

(ii) In deciding the composition of a household, more emphasis is to be placed on 'normally living together' than on 'ordinarily taking food from a common kitchen'. In case the place of residence of a person is different from the place of boarding, he or she will be treated as a member of the household with whom he or she resides.

(iii) A resident employee, or domestic servant, or a paying guest (but not just a tenant in the household) will be considered as a member of the household with whom he or she resides even though he or she is not a member of the same family.

(iv) When a person sleeps in one place (say, in a shop or in a room in another house because of space shortage) but usually takes food with his or her family, he or she should be treated not as a single member household but as a member of the household in which other members of his or her family stay.

(v) If a member of a family (say, a son or a daughter of the head of the family) stays elsewhere (say, in hostel for studies or for any other reason), he/ she will not be considered as a member of his/ her parent's household. However, he/ she will be listed as a single member household if the hostel is listed.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Outline of sample design: A stratified multi-stage design has been adopted for the 64th round survey. The first stage units (FSU) was the 2001 census villages (Panchayat wards in case of Kerala) in the rural sector and Urban Frame Survey (UFS) blocks in the urban sector. However, for the newly declared towns and out growths (OGs) in census 2001 for which UFS had not yet been done, each individual town/ OG was considered as an FSU. The ultimate stage units (USU) was be households in both the sectors. In case of large FSUs i.e. villages/ towns/ blocks requiring hamlet-group (hg)/ sub-block (sb) formation, one intermediate stage was the selection of two hgs/ sbs from each FSU.

Sampling Frame for First Stage Units: For the rural sector, the list of 2001 census villages (Panchayat wards for Kerala) constitute the sampling frame. For the urban sector, the list of latest available Urban Frame Survey (UFS) blocks and for non-UFS towns list of such towns/ OGs was considered as the sampling frame.

Stratification: Within each district of a State/ UT, generally speaking, two basic strata were formed: i) rural stratum comprising of all rural areas of the district and (ii) urban stratum comprising of all the urban areas of the district. However, within the urban areas of a district, if there were one or more towns with population 10 lakhs or more as per population census 2001 in a district, each of them formed a separate basic stratum and the remaining urban areas of the district was considered as another basic stratum. For a few districts, particularly in case of Tamil Nadu, if total number of towns in the district for which UFS was not yet done exceeds certain number, all such towns taken together formed another basic stratum. Otherwise, they were merged with the UFS towns for stratification.

Sub-stratification in the Rural sector: If "r" be the sample size allocated for a rural stratum, the number of sub-strata formed is "r/4?. The villages within a district as per frame were first arranged in ascending order of population. Then sub-strata 1 to "r/4" were demarcated in such a way that each sub-stratum comprised a group of villages of the arranged frame and have more or less equal population.

Sub-stratification in the Urban sector: If "u" be the sample size for a urban stratum, "u/4" number of sub-strata were formed. The towns within a district, except those with population 10 lakhs or more and also the non-UFS towns, were first arranged in ascending order of population. Next, UFS blocks of each town were arranged by IV unit no. × block no. in ascending order. From this arranged frame of UFS blocks of all the towns, "u/4? number of sub-strata were formed in such a way that each sub-stratum had more or less equal number of FSUs. For towns with population 10 lakhs or more, the urban blocks were first arranged by IV unit no. × block no. in ascending order. Then "u/4? number of sub-strata were formed in such a way that each sub-stratum had more or less equal number of blocks. All non-UFS towns taken together within the district formed one sub-stratum.

Total sample size (FSUs): 12688 FSUs for central sample and 13624 FSUs for state sample have been allocated at all-India level.

Allocation of total sample to States and UTs: The total number of sample FSUs is allocated to the States and UTs in proportion to population as per census 2001 subject to a minimum sample allocation to each State/ UT. While doing so, the resource availability in terms of number of field investigators had been kept in view.

Allocation of State/ UT level sample to rural and urban sectors: State/ UT level sample was allocated between two sectors in proportion to population as per census 2001 with 1.5 weightage to urban sector subject to the restriction that urban sample size for bigger states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu etc. should not exceed the rural sample size. A minimum of 8 FSUs was allocated to each state/ UT separately for rural and urban areas. Further the State level allocation for both rural and urban have been adjusted marginally in a few cases to ensure that each stratum gets a minimum allocation of 4 FSUs.

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More information on the sampling methodology is available in the document " Instructions to Field Staff - Volume-I"

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

SCHEDULE 0.0:

Schedule 0.0 is meant for listing all the houses and households residing in the sample first stage unit (FSU) or sample hamlet-groups/ sub-blocks in case of large FSUs. Some household information like household size, relative affluence, occurrences of migration, whether any household member in the age-group of 5 - 29 years enrolled at primary and above level, MPCE etc. is also be collected in this schedule. These auxiliary information will be used for grouping the households into different second-stage-strata (SSS).

SCHEDULE 1.0:

Schedule 1.0 consists of several blocks to obtain detailed information on the expenditure incurred on domestic consumption and other particulars of the sample household. There are 15 blocks numbered 0 to 14.

The 64th round survey is the nineteenth in the annual series of surveys of household consumer expenditure.

What is new in the schedule:

• Columns for recording particulars of participation in public works have been dropped from Block 4 of the schedule.
• Covered area (Block 3,

In the financial year 2021, a majority of Indian households fell under the aspirers category, earning between ******* and ******* Indian rupees a year. On the other hand, about ***** percent of households that same year, accounted for the rich, earning over * million rupees annually. The middle class more than doubled that year compared to ** percent in financial year 2005. Middle-class income group and the COVID-19 pandemic During the COVID-19 pandemic specifically during the lockdown in March 2020, loss of incomes hit the entire household income spectrum. However, research showed the severest affected groups were the upper middle- and middle-class income brackets. In addition, unemployment rates were rampant nationwide that further lead to a dismally low GDP. Despite job recoveries over the last few months, improvement in incomes were insignificant. Economic inequality While India maybe one of the fastest growing economies in the world, it is also one of the most vulnerable and severely afflicted economies in terms of economic inequality. The vast discrepancy between the rich and poor has been prominent since the last ***** decades. The rich continue to grow richer at a faster pace while the impoverished struggle more than ever before to earn a minimum wage. The widening gaps in the economic structure affect women and children the most. This is a call for reinforcement in in the country’s social structure that emphasizes access to quality education and universal healthcare services.

According to a recent survey conducted in ** countries worldwide, Indian weddings have the largest number of guests, with an average of *** participants. Mexico and Brazil followed with *** and *** guests, respectively.

In the financial year 2021, the average annual saving of rich households in India was over *** thousand Indian rupees, a stark contrast to destitute category which saved only five thousand Indian rupees. The middle-class saved almost *** thousand Indian rupees annually. During the year, a rich household spent almost ** times that of a destitute household, eight times that of an aspirer household, and almost three times that of a middle-class household.

In 2011, the average slum household in India had *** people. This number was a decrease from 2001. The government defines slums as residential areas with poorly built households. These are most often unhygienic and unfit for human habitation because of dilapidation, overcrowding, lack of sanitation, water and infrastructure.

Key information about India Household Debt: % of GDP

• India household debt accounted for 17.1 % of the country's Nominal GDP in Mar 2024, compared with the ratio of 14.9 % in the previous year.
• India household debt to GDP ratio is updated yearly, available from Mar 1998 to Mar 2024.
• The data reached an all-time high of 17.1 % in Mar 2024 and a record low of 2.2 % in Mar 1999.

CEIC calculates annual Household Debt as % of Nominal GDP from annual Household Debt and annual Nominal GDP. The Reserve Bank of India provides Household Debt in local currency. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation provides Nominal GDP in local currency based on SNA 2008, at 2011-2012 prices. Loans are used due to the lack of Flow of Funds statistics. Household Debt includes Consumer Durables, Housing and Rest of Personal Loans. Household Debt as % of Nominal GDP is in annual frequency, ending in March of each year.


Related information about India Household Debt: % of GDP

• In the latest reports, India Household Debt reached 617.3 USD bn in Mar 2024.
• Money Supply M2 in India increased 7.9 % YoY in Nov 2024.
• India Foreign Exchange Reserves was measured at 547.5 USD bn in Dec 2024.
• The Foreign Exchange Reserves equaled 9.2 Months of Import in May 2023.
• India Domestic Credit reached 3,168.1 USD bn in Dec 2024, representing an increased of 11.1 % YoY.
• The country's Non Performing Loans Ratio stood at 2.8 % in Mar 2024, compared with the ratio of 3.9 % in the previous year.

Key information about India Gross Savings Rate

• India Gross Savings Rate was measured at 30.7% in Mar 2024, compared with 30.7% in the previous year.
• India Gross Savings Rate is updated yearly, with data available from Mar 1951 to Mar 2024, and an average rate of 30.7%.
• The data reached an all-time high of 30.7% in Mar 2008 and a record low of 7.9% in Mar 1954.
• CEIC calculates Gross Domestic Savings Rate from annual Gross Domestic Savings and annual Nominal GDP. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation provides Gross Domestic Savings in local currency and Nominal GDP in local currency based on SNA 2008, at 2011-2012 prices. Gross Domestic Savings Rate is annual frequency, ending in March of each year.
• In the latest reports, India GDP expanded 6.1% YoY in Mar 2023.
• India Nominal GDP reached 873,666.0 USD mn in Mar 2023. Its GDP deflator (implicit price deflator) increased 4.1% in Mar 2023.
• India GDP Per Capita reached 2,452.2 USD in Mar 2023.

Abstract

The 62nd round survey is the seventeenth in the annual series of surveys of household consumer expenditure. The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) conducts regular consumer expenditure surveys as part of its "rounds," each round being normally of a year's duration and covering more than one subject of study. The surveys are conducted through household interviews, using a random sample of households covering practically the entire geographical area of the country. Surveys on consumer expenditure are conducted quinquennially on a large sample of households from the 27th round (October 1972 - September 1973) onwards. Apart from these quinquennial surveys, the NSSO has been collecting information on consumer expenditure from a smaller sample of households since 42nd round (July 1986 - June 1987). Household consumer expenditure is measured as the expenditure incurred by a household on domestic account during a specified period called reference period. It includes the imputed values of goods and services, which are not purchased but procured otherwise for consumption. In other words, it is the sum total of monetary values of all the items (i.e. goods and services) consumed by the household on domestic account during the reference period. The imputed rent of owner-occupied houses is excluded from consumption expenditure. Any expenditure incurred towards the productive enterprises of the households is also excluded from household consumer expenditure.

Geographic coverage

The survey covers the whole of the Indian Union except:

(i) Leh (Ladakh), Kargil, Punch and Rajauri districts of Jammu & Kashmir (ii) interior villages of Nagaland situated beyond five kilometres of a bus route
(iii) villages in Andaman and Nicobar Islands which remain inaccessible throughout the year

Analysis unit

-Households -Individuals

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Sample Design: A stratified multi-stage design was adopted for the 62nd round survey. The First Stage Units (FSU) were the 2001 census villages in the rural sector and Urban Frame Survey (UFS) blocks in the urban sector. The Ultimate Stage Units (USU) were households in both the sectors. In the case of large villages/ blocks requiring hamlet-group (hg)/ sub-block (sb) formation, one intermediate stage was the selection of two hgs/ sbs from each FSU.

Sampling frame: The list of villages as per census 2001 was used as frame for the rural sector and the latest available list of Urban Frame Survey (UFS) blocks was used as frame in the urban sector.

Stratification: Within each district of a State/ UT, two basic strata were formed: (i) Rural stratum comprising of all rural areas of the district (ii) Urban stratum comprising of all the urban areas of the district. However, if there were one or more towns with population 10 lakhs or more as per population census 2001 in a district, each of them also formed a separate basic stratum and the remaining urban areas of the district was considered as another basic stratum. There are 27 towns with population 10 lakhs or more at all-India level as per census 2001.

For more detailed description of the sampling procedure, refer to the file titled "Introduction: Concepts, Definitions and Procedures " that is provided as an external resource.

Sampling deviation

The survey period of this 62nd round was divided into four sub-rounds of three months' duration each to spread the survey workload uniformly. Because of the arduous field conditions, sub-round restriction was not strictly enforced in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, rural areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

Schedule 1.0 on consumer expenditure for NSS 62nd round consisted of 12 blocks that are listed below.

Blocks 0, 1 and 2: Similar to the ones used in usual NSS rounds. These were used to record identification of sample households and particulars of field operations. Block 3: Household characteristics. Block 4: Particulars of household members. Block 5: Cash purchase and consumption of food, pan, tobacco and intoxicants during the last 30 days. Block 6: Consumption of fuel & light during the last 30 days. Block 7: Consumption of clothing, bedding, etc. during the last 365 days. Block 8 : Consumption of footwear during the last 365 days. Block 9 : Expenditure on education and medical (institutional) goods and services during the last 365 days. Block 10 : Expenditure on miscellaneous goods and services including medical (non-institutional), rents and taxes during the last 30 days. Block 11 : Expenditure for purchase and construction (including repair and maintenance) of durable goods for domestic use during the last 365 days. Block 12: Summary of consumer expenditure.