National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) 2019-20 Union Territory Fact Sheet: Puducherry

FOCUS

Since 1992, the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, has conducted the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. The NFHS report for 2019-21 is the fifth in this series. It provides information on population, health and nutrition in 28 states, eight union territories, and 707 districts of India. The survey was released in phases due to delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

NFHS - 5 presents district - level data on indicators such as population, fertility, family planning, infant and child mortality, maternal and child health, domestic violence and disability. This fact sheet on Puducherry was released on November 24, 2021. School of Public Health, SRM University, Chennai, conducted the fieldwork for the report between January 6 and March 21, 2020, and from December 21, 2020, to March 31, 2021. It covered 3,520 households, 3,669 women (aged 15-49 years) and 534 men (aged 15-54 years).

This seven-page document presents data on 131 indicators across 21 sections: Population and Household Profile (Section 1); Characteristics of Adults (Section 2); Marriage and Fertility (Section 3); Infant and Child Mortality Rates (Section 4); Current Use of Family Planning Methods (Section 5); Unmet Need for Family Planning (Section 6); Quality of Family Planning Services (Section 7); Maternity Care (Section 8); Delivery Care (Section 9); Child Vaccinations and Vitamin A Supplementation (Section 10); Treatment of Childhood Diseases (Section 11); Child Feeding Practices and Nutritional Status of Children (Section 12); Nutritional Status of Adults (Section 13); Anaemia among Children and Adults (Section 14); Blood Sugar Level among Adults (Section 15); Hypertension among Adults (Section 16); Screening for Cancer among Adults (Section 17); Knowledge of HIV/AIDS among Adults (Section 18); Women's Empowerment (Section 19); Gender Based Violence (Section 20); and Tobacco Use and Alcohol Consumption among Adults (Section 21).

    FACTOIDS

  1. In Puducherry, almost all (99.9 per cent) of the population surveyed lived in households that had access to electricity – 100 per cent in urban areas and 99.7 per cent in rural areas.

  2. An ‘improved’ water source was available in 99.9 per cent of households in the union territory, the fact sheet states. However, only 84.9 per cent of people lived in households with improved sanitation facilities.

  3. The percentage of households using clean fuel for cooking was reported to be 92.3 per cent – much higher in urban areas (95.8 per cent) than in rural areas (84.6 per cent). Overall, the percentage of households using clean fuel increased by 7.5 per cent since NFHS-4.

  4. The percentage of literate women and men in Puducherry were recorded to be 89.7 per cent and 93.8 per cent respectively. Respondents were considered literate if they had finished education till Class 9 and higher or if they were able to read a complete sentence or a part of it.

  5. The total fertility rate in the union territory was reported at 1.5 children per woman. It was a slight fall from NFHS-4 figures of 1.7 children.

  6. The infant mortality rate saw a steep fall to 2.9 deaths (before the age of one year) per 1,000 live births in NFHS-5 from the 15.7 deaths reported in NFHS-4. At the same time, the under-five mortality rate also fell from 16.2 deaths (before the age of five years) per 1,000 live births to 3.9 deaths.

  7. Among married women (aged 15-49 years) in Puducherry, 66 per cent used contraceptive methods of family planning. Modern methods like sterilisation, intrauterine devices, injectables, contraceptive pills or condoms were used by 62.1 per cent of women.

  8. Around 61.7 per cent of women in urban areas and 73.1 per cent of women in rural areas who were pregnant in the five years prior to the survey consumed iron folic acid for 180 days or more when they were pregnant. This figure was considerably higher than its NFHS-4 counterpart – 36.3 per cent.

  9. The percentage of children (aged 12-23 months) who were fully vaccinated fell to 82 per cent in NFHS-5. The figure in NFHS-4 had been 91.3 per cent.

  10. Of all children surveyed under five years of age, 20 per cent were reported to be stunted (too short for their age) and 12.4 per cent were wasted (too thin for their height).

  11. The prevalence of anaemia among children aged 6-59 months increased from 44.9 per cent in NFHS-4 to 64 per cent in NFHS-5. Additionally, among women and men in Puducherry between the ages of 15-49 years, 55.1 per cent of women and 19.5 per cent of men were also anaemic.

  12. The number of women who had a bank or savings account that they themselves used rose from 68.2 per cent in NFHS-4 to 92.6 per cent.

  13. Of the women and men (aged 15-49 years) surveyed in the union territory, 30.2 per cent and 32.5 per cent respectively, had ‘comprehensive’ knowledge of HIV/AIDS.

  14. As many as 30.5 per cent of married women between the ages of 18-49 years reported having experienced spousal violence, down from 34.6 per cent in NFHS-4.


    Focus and Factoids by Devanshi Parekh.


    PARI Library's health archive project is part of an initiative supported by the Azim Premji University to develop a free-access repository of health-related reports relevant to rural India.

AUTHOR

International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai

COPYRIGHT

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi

PUBLICATION DATE

24 Nov, 2021

TAGS

#population #child-mortality #domestic-violence #puducherry #health #infant-mortality-rate #union-territory #nfhs #fertility-rates #nutrition #family-planning #maternal-and-child-health

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