National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6), 2023-24 Fact Sheets

FOCUS

Since 1992-93, the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, has conducted the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) for the Government of India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). The 2023-24 survey (NFHS-6) is the sixth round in the series and it provides detailed information on population, health and nutrition through countrywide statistics and factsheets for 27 states and 8 union territories — all States/UTs except Manipur. It was published in May 2026. Like NFHS-4 and NFHS-5, the NFHS-6 sample is designed to give National, State/UT and District-level estimates for most indicators, except those on other health issues, husbands' backgrounds, women's work and attitudes and behaviour, which are available only at the State/UT and National level.

Fieldwork for India was carried out in two phases — phase I was from May 2023 to February 2024 and phase II was undertaken from February 2024 to December 2024. The report notes that 679,238 households were surveyed, covering 716,397 women and 100,977 men.

The factsheets provide estimates on 101 key indicators covering population and household profile, characteristics of adults, marriage and fertility, family planning methods, maternal and child health, delivery and postnatal care, child vaccinations, childhood diseases, nutritional status of children, nutrition status of adults, blood sugar and hypertension among adults, women's empowerment, gender-based violence and tobacco and alcohol use among adults. The objective of each successive round of the NFHS has aimed to provide reliable data on health and family welfare, helping set benchmarks, track the health sector's progress over time, assess ongoing programmes and identify where new programmes or focused interventions are needed most.

A comparison of the NFHS-5 (2019-21) and NFHS-6 (2023-24) India factsheets shows that few indicators featured in NFHS-5 do not appear in NFHS-6, including sanitation and clean cooking fuel, anaemia, sex ratio, perinatal, infant, and under-five mortality rates per 1,000 live births, cancer screening among women and knowledge of HIV/AIDS. NFHS-6 states that its "contents are more or less similar to NFHS-5 to allow comparisons over time" while noting the addition of "some new topics, such as Direct Bank Transfer (DBT) and Self-Help Group (SHG) coverage, digital literacy and financial transactions, etc.”, though the report does not provide an itemized list of all the new indicators it is understood to include. 

    FACTOIDS

  1. The share in India's population of those below 5 years of age fell marginally from 8.2 per cent of the surveyed population in NFHS-5 to 8.0 per cent in NFHS-6. The share of those aged 60 years and above rose from 11.8 per cent of the total surveyed population in NFHS-5 to 12.9 per cent in NFHS-6.

  2. The report notes that households with any usual member covered under a health insurance/financing scheme jumped from 41.0 per cent of the total surveyed households in 2019-21 to 60.2 per cent — notably higher in rural areas (62.0 per cent of the surveyed households) than urban areas (56.4 per cent).

  3. Among adults aged 15-49 years, women with 10 or more years of schooling rose from 41.0 per cent of the surveyed population to 46.4 per cent (with a wide urban-rural gap of 61.5 per cent in urban areas versus 39.7 per cent in rural areas). Internet use among women, that is “women who have ever used the internet” increased from 33.3 per cent of the surveyed population to 64.3 per cent.

  4. Women aged 20-24 years who were married before 18 years fell from 23.3 per cent of the surveyed population to 20.1 per cent nationally, though the rural figure (23.3 per cent) remained unchanged from NFHS-5, with the improvement driven by urban areas (11.4 per cent). Men aged 25-29 years married before 21 fell from 17.7 per cent to 15.9 per cent. The total fertility rate (children per women) held steady at 2.0 children per woman (1.6 in urban and 2.1 in rural areas). 

  5. Use of any family planning method among currently married women (aged 15-49 years) rose from 66.7 per cent in NFHS-5 to 69.1 per cent in NFHS-6. Use of traditional family planning methods rose sharply from 10.3 per cent to 16.4 per cent, while modern method use actually fell from 56.4 per cent to 52.7 per cent. Female sterilization remains the leading modern method at 36.5 per cent (down from 37.9 per cent noted in NFHS-5), while male sterilization rose from 0.3 per cent to 0.5 per cent.

  6. Among women who had given birth in the last five years, antenatal check-ups during the first-trimester rose from 70.0 per cent among the surveyed population to 76.2 per cent, the report notes. Consumption of iron folic acid for 180 days or more during pregnancy rose from 26.0 per cent to 37.8 per cent of the surveyed population.

  7. For births in the last 5 years before the survey, institutional births rose from 88.6 per cent as noted in NFHS-5 to 90.6 per cent (95.2 per cent urban, 89.0 per cent rural), while births in public facilities specifically fell from 61.9 per cent to 58.6 per cent. Caesarean-section deliveries rose from 21.5 per cent to 27.2 per cent nationally, with urban rates (40.5 per cent) nearly double rural rates (22.8 per cent).

  8. Mothers who received postnatal care within 2 days of giving birth rose from 78.0 per cent of the surveyed population to 82.8 per cent in NFHS-6.

  9. Early initiation of breastfeeding in children under age 3 years (within 1 hour of birth) improved from 41.8 per cent in the last NFHS to 50.1 per cent. Children under 6 months currently breastfeeding was noted to be 96.6 per cent of the surveyed population. For children under 5 years of age – stunting (low height for their age) fell from 35.5 per cent to 29.3 per cent, overall wasting (low weight for their height) decreased slightly from 19.3 per cent to 19.0 per cent.

  10. High or very high blood sugar levels (>140 mg/dl or on medication) rose among women (15 years and above) from 13.5 per cent of the surveyed population to 17.8 per cent (urban 21.9 per cent, rural 16.2 per cent) and among men (15 years and above) from 15.6 per cent to 20.9 per cent (urban 23.9 per cent, rural 19.7 per cent), indicating rising diabetes risk that is more pronounced in urban India.

  11. Women (aged 15-49 years) with a bank or savings account they themselves use rose from 78.6 per cent of the surveyed population to 89.0 per cent in NFHS-6. Women (age 15-24 years) who use hygienic methods of protection - reusable sanitary pads, disposable sanitary pads, tampons, and menstrual cups - during their menstrual period increased from 77.6 per cent in NFHS-5 to 79.2 per cent of the surveyed population in NFHS-6.

  12. The share of ever-married women (age 18-49 years) who have ever experienced spousal violence fell from 29.2 per cent to 22.3 per cent — with rural women (24.4 per cent) still reporting considerably higher rates than urban women (17.5 per cent).


    Focus and Factoids by Anurima Biswas.

    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

May, 2026

TAGS

#violence-against-women #health-infrastructure #population-control #child-nutrition #National-Family-Health-Survey #family-planning

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