What are key findings of National Family Health Survey 2021

Ground Report | New Delhi: India's Family Health Survey; Some of the key findings of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2019-21 are the increasing cases of domestic and sexual violence against women in the state. The survey shows that married women between the ages of 18-49 who have ever experienced marital violence increased from 20.6 in 2014-15 to 44.5%.

According to the survey, there are 1020 females per 1000 males. India has more women than men, India is no longer young and the country is not at risk of population explosion.

All these things are part of the National Family and Health Survey (NFHS) released on 24 November. This is a sample survey and whether it is applicable to the entire country or not, it will be known in the next census.

Vikas Sheel, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said, “Even though the actual situation will come out only after the census, the improvement in sex ratio and sex ratio at birth is a significant achievement. Looking at these results, we can say that we are moving in the right direction in our measures for women's empowerment.

ALSO READ: What is the reason behind withdraws farm laws?

India's Family Health Survey

• India's Total Fertility Rate (TFR), the average number of children per woman, has come down from 2.2 at the national level to 2 and from 1.4 in Chandigarh to 2.4 in Uttar Pradesh.

• Except Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, 2 states have achieved replacement level of fertility (2.1).

• India's battle with anemia also seems to be faltering. The proportion of anemic children (5–59 months) increased from 58% to 67%. Between the two versions of the NFHS, women aged 15–49 who were anaemic increased from 53% to 57% and men of the same age from 29% to 31%.

• India now has 1,020 females per 1000 males, no one is getting young, and is no longer in danger of a population explosion.

• The share of the population below 15 years of age, which was 34.9% in 2005-06, has come down to 26.5% in 2019-21. India is still a young country – the median age of 24 in 2011 according to census data – but it is getting old, and that comes with associated policy challenges.

• 40.4% of women were found to be overweight or obese, compared to 30.9% in 2015-16. Among men, 37 percent are obese or overweight, compared to 28.2 percent in the previous survey.

• 57.4 percent of children aged 6-59 months are now anemic, compared to 50.7 percent in the previous survey

• 48.3 per cent pregnant women in the 15-49 age group suffer from anemia, as against 44.4 per cent earlier.

• The number of caesarean deliveries in private health facilities increased from 51.3 percent in the previous survey to 63.8 percent.

• India has also officially hit a total fertility rate (TFR) of 2.0 which indicates a low of 2.2 in NFHS-IV.

• Along with the increase in institutional births, there has also been a substantial increase in C-section deliveries in many States/UTs, especially in private health facilities.

• Child nutrition indicators show little improvement at the all-India level as stunting decreased from 38 percent to 36 percent, underweight from 21 percent to 19 percent and underweight from 36 percent to 32 percent. The situation with respect to child nutrition has improved in all Phase-II States/UTs, but this change is not significant as these indicators are unlikely to change drastically in the short term.

• Exclusive breastfeeding of children below 6 months of age has improved from 55 per cent in 2015-16 to 64 per cent in 2019-21 at all India level. All the States/UTs of Phase II are also showing considerable progress.

NFHS-5 survey work has been carried out in about 6.1 lakh sample households in 707 districts of the country (as on March, 2017); 7,24,115 females and 1,01,839 males have been included to provide separate estimates up to the district level.

You can connect with Ground Report on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Whatsapp. For suggestions and writeups mail us at [email protected]