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.

The dataset contains state-wise National Family Health Survey (NFHS) compiled data on various family planning, childbirth, population, medical, health and other parameters which provide statistical indicators data on family profile and health status in India. There are 100+ indicators covered in the survey which broadly fall in the following categories: Health and Wellness, Maternal and Child Health, Family Planning and Reproductive Health, Disease Screening and Prevention, Social and Economic Factors, General Healthcare and Treatment

The different types of health data contained in the dataset include Anaemia among women and children, blood sugar levels and hypertension among men and women, tobacco and alcohol consumption among adults, delivery care and child feeding practices of women, quality of family planning services, screening of cancer among women, marriage and family, maternity care, nutritional status of women, child vaccinations and vitamin A supplementation, treatment of childhood diseases, etc.

Within these categories of health data, the dataset contains indicators data such as births attended by skilled health care professionals and caesarean section, number of children with under and heavy weight, stunted growth, their different vaccations status, male and female sterilization, consumption of iron folic acid among mothers, mother who had antenatal, postnatal, neonatal services, women who are obese and at the risk of weight to hip ratio, educational status among women and children, sanitation, birth and sex ratio, etc.

All of the data is compiled from the NFHS 4th and 5th survey reports. The The NFHS is a collaborative project of the International Institute for Population Sciences(IIPS), aimed at providing health data to strengthen India's health policies and programmes.

There are 100+ indicators covered in the survey which broadly fall in the following categories: Health and Wellness, Maternal and Child Health, Family Planning and Reproductive Health, Disease Screening and Prevention, Social and Economic Factors, General Healthcare and Treatment

The National Family Health Survey 2019-2021, the fifth in the NFHS series, provides information on the population, health, and nutrition of India and each state and union territory. Like NFHS-4, NFHS-5 also provides district-level estimates for many important indicators. The contents of NFHS-5 are similar to NFHS-4 to allow comparisons over time. However, NFHS-5 includes some new topics, such as preschool education, disability, access to a toilet facility, death registration, bathing practices during menstruation, and methods and reasons for abortion. The scope of clinical, anthropometric, and biochemical testing has also been expanded to include the measurement of waist and hip circumferences, and the age range for the measurement of blood pressure and blood glucose has been expanded. However, HIV testing has been dropped. The NFHS-5 sample has been designed to provide national, state and union territory, and district level estimates of various indicators covered in the survey. However, estimates of indicators of sexual behaviour, husband's background and woman's work, HIV and AIDS knowledge, attitudes and behaviour, and domestic violence are available only at the state and union territory and national level.

Data in table tells us about the year-wise National Family Health Survey- Main Findings.

Indicators used are: Population and Household Profile, Characteristics of Adults (age 15-49), Marriage and fertility, Infant and Child Mortality Rates (per 1,000 live births), Current Use of Family Planning Methods (currently married women age 15-49 years), Unmet Need for Family Planning (currently married women age 15-49 years), Quality of Family Planning Services, Maternal and Child Health includes- Maternity Care (for last birth in the 5 years before the survey), Delivery Care (for births in the 5 years before the survey), Treatment of Childhood Diseases (children under age 5 years), Child Feeding Practices and Nutritional Status of Children, Nutritional Status of Adults (age 15-49 years) includes- Anaemia among Children and Adults 15, Blood Sugar Level among Adults (age 15-49 years)16, Women Age 15-49 Years Who Have Ever Undergone Examinations of: Cervix, breast and oral cavity, Knowledge of HIV/AIDS among Adults (age 15-49 years), Women's Empowerment and Gender Based Violence (age 15-49 years) and Tobacco Use and Alcohol Consumption among Adults (age 15-49 years). NFHS-3 was calculated for 2005-2006 and NFHS-4 for 2015-16 for urban areas, rural areas and total separately.

Abstract

The 2015-16 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), the fourth in the NFHS series, provides information on population, health, and nutrition for India and each state and union territory. For the first time, NFHS-4 provides district-level estimates for many important indicators. All four NFHS surveys have been conducted under the stewardship of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India. MoHFW designated the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, as the nodal agency for the surveys. Funding for NFHS-4 was provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), UNICEF, UNFPA, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Government of India. Technical assistance for NFHS-4 was provided by ICF, Maryland, USA. Assistance for the HIV component of the survey was provided by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) and the National AIDS Research Institute (NARI), Pune.

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

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

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The NFHS-4 sample was designed to provide estimates of all key indicators at the national and state levels, as well as estimates for most key indicators at the district level (for all 640 districts in India, as of the 2011 Census). The total sample size of approximately 572,000 households for India was based on the size needed to produce reliable indicator estimates for each district and for urban and rural areas in districts in which the urban population accounted for 30-70 percent of the total district population. The rural sample was selected through a two-stage sample design with villages as the Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) at the first stage (selected with probability proportional to size), followed by a random selection of 22 households in each PSU at the second stage. In urban areas, there was also a two-stage sample design with Census Enumeration Blocks (CEB) selected at the first stage and a random selection of 22 households in each CEB at the second stage. At the second stage in both urban and rural areas, households were selected after conducting a complete mapping and household listing operation in the selected first-stage units.

The figures of NFHS-4 and that of earlier rounds may not be strictly comparable due to differences in sample size and NFHS-4 will be a benchmark for future surveys. NFHS-4 fieldwork for Bihar was conducted in all 38 districts of the state from 16 March to 8 August 2015 by the Academic Management Studies (AMS) and collected information from 36,772 households, 45,812 women age 15-49 (including 7,464 women interviewed in PSUs in the state module), and 5,872 men age 15-54.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]

Research instrument

Four questionnaires - household, woman's, man's, and biomarker, were used to collect information in 19 languages using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI).

Using the district factsheets from the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS-4 and NFHS-5), we present an interactive dashboard to visualize health, nutrition, and population indicators across India. Through this dashboard, users can visualize and analyze NFHS-5 (2019-21) and change between NFHS-4 (2015-16) and NFHS-5 for the districts of India. Users can further filter visualization and analysis by: - Aspirational Districts - Survey Phases of NFHS-5 - States/Districts The aim of this interactive data resource is to inform design of policies and enable prioritization of districts for intervention in the domains of health, nutrition and population. This dashboard was created in collaboration with National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog and the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS).

The Consumer Pyramid Household Survey in 2019 reported that the overwhelming majority of ** percent of Indian households had a toilet, and respectively ** percent had TV and in-house water. However, the corresponding figures from the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) suggested much higher shares of households living in deprivation. According to the source, these substantial discrepancies might suggest that the CPHS sample was not as nationally representative as claimed, leaving many poor households to be under-represented.

Abstract

The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) is a large-scale, multi-round survey conducted in a representative sample of households throughout India. Four rounds of the survey have been conducted in 1992-93, 1998-99, 2005-06, and 2015-16. The fifth round of the survey (2019-2020) is currently in the field. All of the surveys are part of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program. The surveys provide information on population, health, and nutrition at the national and state level. Since 2015-16, the surveys have also provided information at the district level. Some of the major topics included in NFHS-4 (2015-16) are fertility, infant and child mortality, family planning, maternal and reproductive health, child vaccinations, prevalence and treatment of childhood diseases, nutrition, women’s empowerment, domestic violence, marriage, sexual activity, employment, anemia, anthropometry, HIV/AIDS knowledge and testing, tobacco and alcohol use, biomarker tests (anthropometry, anemia, HIV, blood pressure, and blood glucose), and water, sanitation, and hygiene. The primary objective of the NFHS surveys is to provide essential data on health and family welfare, as well as emerging issues in these areas. The information collected through the NFHS surveys is intended to assist policymakers and program managers in setting benchmarks and examining progress over time in India’s health sector. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), Government of India, designated the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, as the agency responsible for providing coordination and technical guidance for all of the surveys. IIPS has collaborated with a large number of field agencies for survey implementation. The Demographic and Health Surveys Program has provided technical assistance for all of the surveys.

Documentation

You can access the data through the DHS website. Data files are available in the following five formats:

• Hierarchical CSPro file
• Flat files: ASCII data with syntax, Stata, SPSS, SAS

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All datasets are distributed in archived ZIP files that include the data file and its associated documentation. The DHS Program is authorized to distribute, at no cost, unrestricted survey data files for legitimate academic research. Registration is required to access the data.

Additional information about the surveys is available on the India page on the DHS Program website. This page provides a list of surveys and reports, plus Country Quickstats for India, and it is the gateway to accessing more information about the India surveys and datasets.

Methodology

2015-16 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4): Fieldwork for NFHS-4 was conducted in two phases, from January 2015 to December 2016. The fieldwork was conducted by 14 field agencies, including three Population Research Centers. Laboratory testing for HIV was done by seven laboratories throughout India. NFHS-4 collected information from a nationally representative sample of 601,509 households, 699,686 women age 15-49, and 112,122 men age 15-54. The survey covered all 29 states, 7 Union Territories, and 640 districts in India.

Funding for the survey was provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India; the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); UKAID/DFID; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; UNICEF; the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); and the MacArthur Foundation. Technical Assistance for NFHS-4 was provided by Macro International, Maryland, USA.

2005-06 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3): Fieldwork for NFHS-3 was conducted in two phases, from November 2005 to August 2006. The fieldwork was conducted by 18 field agencies, including six Population Research Centers. Laboratory testing for HIV was done by the SRL Ranbaxy laboratory in Mumbai. NFHS-3 collected information from a nationally representative sample of 109,041 households, 124,385 women age 15-49, and 74,369 men age 15-54. The survey covered all 29 states. Only the Union Territories were not included.

Funding for the survey was provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID); the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; UNICEF; the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); and the Government of India. Technical assistance for NFHS-3 was provided by Macro International, Maryland, USA.

1998-99 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2): Fieldwork for NFHS-2 was conducted in two phases, from November 1998 to December 1999. The fieldwork was conducted by 13 field agencies, including five Population Research Centers. NFHS-2 collected information from a nationally representative sample of 91,196 households and 89,188 ever-married women age 15-49. Male interviews were not included in the survey. The survey cover

Dataset

This dataset was created by Anujpanchal16

Contents

Dataset and Variable Codebook used for the calculation in the paper "Mapping the Association of Self-Help Groups with Utilisation of Maternal Healthcare Services in India"

Abstract

The National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) programme, initiated in the early 1990s, has emerged as a nationally important source of data on population, health, and nutrition for India and its states. The 2005-06 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), the third in the series of these national surveys, was preceded by NFHS-1 in 1992-93 and NFHS-2 in 1998-99. Like NFHS-1 and NFHS-2, NFHS-3 was designed to provide estimates of important indicators on family welfare, maternal and child health, and nutrition. In addition, NFHS-3 provides information on several new and emerging issues, including family life education, safe injections, perinatal mortality, adolescent reproductive health, high-risk sexual behaviour, tuberculosis, and malaria. Further, unlike the earlier surveys in which only ever-married women age 15-49 were eligible for individual interviews, NFHS-3 interviewed all women age 15-49 and all men age 15-54. Information on nutritional status, including the prevalence of anaemia, is provided in NFHS3 for women age 15-49, men age 15-54, and young children.

A special feature of NFHS-3 is the inclusion of testing of the adult population for HIV. NFHS-3 is the first nationwide community-based survey in India to provide an estimate of HIV prevalence in the general population. Specifically, NFHS-3 provides estimates of HIV prevalence among women age 15-49 and men age 15-54 for all of India, and separately for Uttar Pradesh and for Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, and Tamil Nadu, five out of the six states classified by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) as high HIV prevalence states. No estimate of HIV prevalence is being provided for Nagaland, the sixth high HIV prevalence state, due to strong local opposition to the collection of blood samples.

NFHS-3 covered all 29 states in India, which comprise more than 99 percent of India's population. NFHS-3 is designed to provide estimates of key indicators for India as a whole and, with the exception of HIV prevalence, for all 29 states by urban-rural residence. Additionally, NFHS-3 provides estimates for the slum and non-slum populations of eight cities, namely Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Meerut, Mumbai, and Nagpur. NFHS-3 was conducted under the stewardship of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), Government of India, and is the result of the collaborative efforts of a large number of organizations. The International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, was designated by MOHFW as the nodal agency for the project. Funding for NFHS-3 was provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), DFID, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF, UNFPA, and MOHFW. Macro International, USA, provided technical assistance at all stages of the NFHS-3 project. NACO and the National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) provided technical assistance for the HIV component of NFHS-3. Eighteen Research Organizations, including six Population Research Centres, shouldered the responsibility of conducting the survey in the different states of India and producing electronic data files.

The survey used a uniform sample design, questionnaires (translated into 18 Indian languages), field procedures, and procedures for biomarker measurements throughout the country to facilitate comparability across the states and to ensure the highest possible data quality. The contents of the questionnaires were decided through an extensive collaborative process in early 2005. Based on provisional data, two national-level fact sheets and 29 state fact sheets that provide estimates of more than 50 key indicators of population, health, family welfare, and nutrition have already been released. The basic objective of releasing fact sheets within a very short period after the completion of data collection was to provide immediate feedback to planners and programme managers on key process indicators.

Geographic coverage

• National (29 states )
• Regional (for HIV Prevalence : Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, and Tamil Nadu)
• Local (population and health indicators for slum and non-slum populations for eight cities, namely Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Meerut, Mumbai, and Nagpur)

Analysis unit

• Household
• Women age 15-49
• Men age 15-59

Universe

The population covered by the 2005 DHS is defined as the universe of all ever-married women age 15-49, NFHS-3 included never married women age 15-49 and both ever-married and never married men age 15-54 as eligible respondents.

Kind of data

Sample survey data

Sampling procedure

SAMPLE SIZE

Since a large number of the key indicators to be estimated from NFHS-3 refer to ever-married women in the reproductive ages of 15-49, the target sample size for each state in NFHS-3 was estimated in terms of the number of ever-married women in the reproductive ages to be interviewed.

The initial target sample size was 4,000 completed interviews with ever-married women in states with a 2001 population of more than 30 million, 3,000 completed interviews with ever-married women in states with a 2001 population between 5 and 30 million, and 1,500 completed interviews with ever-married women in states with a population of less than 5 million. In addition, because of sample-size adjustments required to meet the need for HIV prevalence estimates for the high HIV prevalence states and Uttar Pradesh and for slum and non-slum estimates in eight selected cities, the sample size in some states was higher than that fixed by the above criteria. The target sample was increased for Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh to permit the calculation of reliable HIV prevalence estimates for each of these states. The sample size in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal was increased to allow separate estimates for slum and non-slum populations in the cities of Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Mumbai, Meerut, and Nagpur.

The target sample size for HIV tests was estimated on the basis of the assumed HIV prevalence rate, the design effect of the sample, and the acceptable level of precision. With an assumed level of HIV prevalence of 1.25 percent and a 15 percent relative standard error, the estimated sample size was 6,400 HIV tests each for men and women in each of the high HIV prevalence states. At the national level, the assumed level of HIV prevalence of less than 1 percent (0.92 percent) and less than a 5 percent relative standard error yielded a target of 125,000 HIV tests at the national level.

Blood was collected for HIV testing from all consenting ever-married and never married women age 15-49 and men age 15-54 in all sample households in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh. All women age 15-49 and men age 15-54 in the sample households were eligible for interviewing in all of these states plus Nagaland. In the remaining 22 states, all ever-married and never married women age 15-49 in sample households were eligible to be interviewed. In those 22 states, men age 15-54 were eligible to be interviewed in only a subsample of households. HIV tests for women and men were carried out in only a subsample of the households that were selected for men's interviews in those 22 states. The reason for this sample design is that the required number of HIV tests is determined by the need to calculate HIV prevalence at the national level and for some states, whereas the number of individual interviews is determined by the need to provide state level estimates for attitudinal and behavioural indicators in every state. For statistical reasons, it is not possible to estimate HIV prevalence in every state from NFHS-3 as the number of tests required for estimating HIV prevalence reliably in low HIV prevalence states would have been very large.

SAMPLE DESIGN

The urban and rural samples within each state were drawn separately and, to the extent possible, unless oversampling was required to permit separate estimates for urban slum and non-slum areas, the sample within each state was allocated proportionally to the size of the state's urban and rural populations. A uniform sample design was adopted in all states. In each state, the rural sample was selected in two stages, with the selection of Primary Sampling Units (PSUs), which are villages, with probability proportional to population size (PPS) at the first stage, followed by the random selection of households within each PSU in the second stage. In urban areas, a three-stage procedure was followed. In the first stage, wards were selected with PPS sampling. In the next stage, one census enumeration block (CEB) was randomly selected from each sample ward. In the final stage, households were randomly selected within each selected CEB.

SAMPLE SELECTION IN RURAL AREAS

In rural areas, the 2001 Census list of villages served as the sampling frame. The list was stratified by a number of variables. The first level of stratification was geographic, with districts being subdivided into contiguous regions. Within each of these regions, villages were further stratified using selected variables from the following list: village size, percentage of males working in the nonagricultural sector, percentage of the population belonging to scheduled castes or scheduled tribes, and female literacy. In addition to these variables, an external estimate of HIV prevalence, i.e., 'High', 'Medium' or 'Low', as estimated for all the districts in high HIV prevalence states, was used for stratification in high HIV prevalence states. Female literacy was used for implicit stratification (i.e., villages were

Nfhs 4 and 5 report dataset.

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

We utilized nationally representative sample survey data from round 4 (2015-16) and round 5 (2019-21) of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS). NFHS data from various rounds was accessed from the 7th phase of Demographic Health Surveys (DHS). The surveys were conducted under the stewardship of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and the designated nodal agency- the International Institute for Population Science (IIPS). We considered household data sets from various rounds of NFHS.

The following is an exploratory data analysis study on the "National Family Health Survey" dataset.

Source Dataset: All India and State/UT-wise Factsheets of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) - 5, 2019-2021

Published On: 15/02/2022

Updated on: 25/02/2022

National-Health-Survey-Data-Link

As of April 2021, India's fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) stated that about ** percent of women living in rural areas consumed alcohol almost every day. In comparison, ** percent of women staying in urban areas consumed alcohol almost every day in India.

There is a need to provide an overview of the disability burden in India as there are limited studies. The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence and assess the pattern and determinants of disability in India. We analyzed National Family Health Survey-5 data using the “svyset” command in STATA software. We assessed the correlates by multivariable regression and reported an adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). QGIS 3.2.1 software was used for spatial analysis of distributions of different disabilities. The mean (SD) age of 28,43,917 respondents was 30.82 (20.62) years, with 75.83% (n = 21,56,633) and 44.44% (n = 12,63,086) of them being from a rural area and were not educated, respectively. The overall prevalence of disability was 4.52% [(95% CI: 4.48–4.55), n = 1,28,528]. Locomotor disabilities accounted for 44.70% of all disabilities (n = 51,659), followed by mental disabilities (20.28%, n = 23,436). Age 75 years and above (vs. 0–14 years) [aPR: 2.65 (2.50–2.81)], male (vs. female) [aPR: 1.02 (1.0–1.04)], no education (vs. higher education) [aPR 1.62 (1.56–1.68)], unmarried (vs married) [aPR: 1.76 (1.70–1.82)], seeking the care of non-governmental organization (NGO) (vs. other) [aPR: 1.32 (1.13–1.55)] were significant independent determinants. The highest overall prevalence of locomotor was in Lakshadweep/UTs (8.88%) and Delhi (57.03%), respectively. Out of every hundred individuals in India, four have a disability. More intervention strategies should be planned, considering factors like education, residence, health promotion and caste so that the services provided by the government can be available and accessible to everyone in need.

“Children Aged 6-59 Months Who Are Anaemic” refers to the proportion of young children within this age group who have insufficient levels of haemoglobin in their blood, a condition known as anaemia. Haemoglobin, a protein found in red blood cells, is essential for transporting oxygen throughout the body. Anaemia in children can result from nutritional deficiencies, particularly a lack of iron, folate, or vitamin B12, as well as infections or chronic diseases. This indicator is critical because anaemia can impair cognitive and physical development, weaken the immune system, and increase susceptibility to infections, significantly affecting a child’s growth and well-being. It is commonly measured through blood tests that assess haemoglobin levels, with thresholds established by the World Health Organization (WHO) to classify different severities of anaemia. Monitoring this indicator helps track children’s health and nutritional status, guiding policies aimed at reducing malnutrition and improving child health outcomes.

Background- Breastfeeding is a crucial and irreplaceable method of feeding infants. Despite the well-established advantages of early breastfeeding initiation, there are constraints to achieving progress in this area. Over half of the mothers in India delay breastfeeding initiation. Various factors have been pinpointed as influencing the initiation of breastfeeding, with institutional deliveries emerging as a crucial factor among them. Objective –To test the hypothesized association between institutional delivery and initiation delays and identify how various socio-economic variables moderate (weaken/strengthen/ reverse) the association between breastfeeding initiation delays and place of delivery. Methods- This cross-sectional study analyses data of 1,06,569 breastfeeding mothers drawn from data of NFHS -5 (2019-2021) for analysis. The outcome variable of the study was the timing of breastfeeding initiation for the most recent child, with the choice of delivery location serving as the explanatory variable. Additionally, socio-economic factors such as age, education level, marital status, place of residence, and wealth index were considered moderating variables. Logistic regression-based Moderation analysis explored how these variables moderate the relationship between breastfeeding initiation delays and place of delivery. Statistical analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics 26. Results- The highest occurrence of delayed breastfeeding initiation was observed among mothers aged 36 and older (58.3%), lacking formal education (60.9%), belonging to lower wealth groups (58.1%), residing in rural areas (57.4%), and delivering their babies at home (64.1%). Institutional delivery significantly and negatively affects delayed breastfeeding initiation (OR=0.705, P<.001). Age as a moderating variable significantly affects this association. For younger mothers, delivering in institutions appears to have a mitigating effect on delayed initiation (aOR= 0.757, P<.05). Notably, education level (aOR=0.616, P<.01 for no education and aOR=0.510, P<.05 for primary education) and wealth index (aOR=0.672, P<.01) as a moderating factor have significantly strengthened the negative effect of institutional delivery on delayed initiation. Conclusion- The study offers valuable insights into the intricate moderating effects of socio-economic variables affecting breastfeeding initiation within institutional childbirth contexts in India. Outreach initiatives aimed at promoting healthcare service utilization during pregnancy and delivery and raising awareness about breastfeeding practices are essential measures to improve the adoption and implementation of early breastfeeding initiation.

As of April 2021, India's fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) stated that ** percent of male respondents living in rural areas consumed alcohol almost every day. In comparison, over ** percent of male respondents living in urban areas consumed alcohol almost every day in India.