India Fact Sheet: National Family Health Survey 5 (NFHS-5)

The survey is the fifth in the NFHS series and 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 been expanded to include measurement of waist and hip circumferences, and the age range for the measurement of blood pressure and blood glucose has been expanded. The NFHS-5 sample has been designed to provide national, state/union territory, and district-level estimates of various indicators covered in the survey. The survey was conducted in two phases, phase one from 17 June 2019 to 30 January 2020 and phase two from 2 January 2020 to 30 April 2021, by 17 Field Agencies. The survey gathered information from 636,699 households, 724,115 women, and 101,839 men. The data will be useful in setting benchmarks and examining the progress the health sector has made over time. The survey collected information on various indicators, including population and household profile, characteristics of adults, marriage and fertility, infant and child mortality rates, current use of family planning methods, and unmet need for family planning. The data shows that the female population age 6 years and above who ever attended school increased from 66.8% in NFHS-4 to 82.5% in NFHS-5. The population below age 15 years decreased from 28.1% in NFHS-4 to 23.1% in NFHS-5. The total fertility rate (children per woman) decreased from 2.1 in NFHS-4 to 1.6 in NFHS-5. The survey also found that the neonatal mortality rate (NNMR) decreased from 27.5 in NFHS-4 to 18.0 in NFHS-5. The infant mortality rate (IMR) decreased from 38.4 in NFHS-4 to 26.6 in NFHS-5. The under-five mortality rate (U5MR) decreased from 45.7 in NFHS-4 to 31.5 in NFHS-5. The data also shows that the percentage of households with any usual member covered under a health insurance/financing scheme increased from 28.7% in NFHS-4 to 38.1% in NFHS-5. The survey highlights the progress made in various health and family welfare indicators in India. The data will be useful in setting benchmarks and examining the progress the health sector has made over time. The survey also identifies the need for new programmes with an area-specific focus and identifies groups that are most in need of essential services.