National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) 2019-21: Rajasthan

As per the NFHS-5, three-fourths of the households in Rajasthan were located in rural areas with an average of 5.1 members in each household. Of all the households surveyed, 54.4 per cent lived in a pucca house, 98 per cent had electricity, 90 per cent had basic drinking water service and 41.4 per cent used clean fuel for cooking.

Around 22.5 per cent of surveyed households in Rajasthan – 28.9 per cent in rural areas and 2.8 per cent urban areas – did not have any sanitation facilities. Otherwise, 69.6 per cent households had access to ‘basic sanitation facilities’ (defined as “improved facilities that are not shared with other households”) while 6.7 per cent used ‘limited sanitation facilities’ (defined as “improved facilities shared by two or more households”).

The pre-school attendance among children between the ages of 2-4 years was 25.7 per cent (24.4 per cent among boys and 27.2 per cent among girls). For children between the ages of 6-14 years, school attendance was recorded at 95 per cent. It dropped to about 73 per cent for students between 15-17 years of age.

According to the report, a quarter of the women (aged 20-24 years) in Rajasthan were married before the legal minimum age of 18 years, which is significantly lower than the 35 per cent recorded in NFHS-4. In the five years preceding the survey, around 92 per cent of last pregnancies resulted in live birth and the remaining ended in ‘foetal wastage’ (abortion, miscarriage or stillbirth as per the report).

The contraceptive prevalence rate among currently married women (aged 15 to 49 years) was 72 per cent. Modern contraceptive methods were used by 62 per cent of women in this category. About 39 per cent of men in Rajasthan between the ages of 15 and 49 years believed that contraception is ‘women’s business’.

The infant mortality rate in Rajasthan was recorded to be 30.2 deaths (before the age of one year) per 1,000 live births while the under-five mortality rate was estimated to be 37.5 deaths (before the age of five years) per 1,000 live births.

The report notes that 95 per cent of births in the five years before the survey took place in a healthcare facility and the remaining five per cent of births took place at home.

Among children aged 12-23 months, 80 per cent had received all basic vaccinations against major diseases including tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio and measles. Only 2.6 per cent children in this age group had not received any vaccinations at all.

Nutrition among children under five years of age improved between NFHS-4 and NFHS-5. The percentage of children who were stunted (too short for their age) fell from 39 to 32 per cent, and percentage of children who were wasted (too thin for their height) declined from 23 per cent to 17 per cent. It was also recorded that 72 per cent of children (aged between 6 to 59 months) were anaemic, a steep rise from the NFHS-4 estimates of 60 per cent.

In Rajasthan, 32 per cent of women and 29 per cent of men (aged 15-49 years) were either too thin, overweight or obese, the report notes. Anaemia was recorded as a major health problem with around 54 per cent of women and 23 per cent of men in the state being anaemic.

Roughly 88 per cent of households surveyed in Rajasthan (90.4 per cent of urban and 80 per cent of rural) had some kind of health insurance that covered at least one member of the household.

A significantly high number of people surveyed (90 per cent of women and 97 per cent of men) in the state were aware of HIV/AIDS. However, only about 27 per cent of women and 36 per cent men had ‘comprehensive knowledge’ of it.

According to the NFHS-5 survey, 84 per cent of women between the ages of 15 and 24 years used hygienic methods of menstrual protection. Around 76 per cent used sanitary napkins and 0.7 per cent used tampons.

In the 12 months preceding the survey, only 28 per cent of women compared to 75 per cent men (between 15-49 years) were employed. The report also states that almost 80 per cent of the women surveyed in Rajasthan had their own bank and savings accounts which they themselves used.

In the state, around 24 per cent of women (aged 18 to 49 years) reported having experienced either physical or sexual violence and four per cent reported experiencing both. Of women who had experienced such violence, only 13 per cent sought help.

Focus and Factoids by Anushka Mukherjee.

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.