As per the findings of latest National Family Health Survey – 5 (NFHS-5), the country’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) slipped below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman for the first time; indicating that the country’s population might be stabilizing.

India’s total fertility rate declined from 2.2 to 2.0, while the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) has increased from 54 percent to 67 percent.

The sex ratio of the total population (females per 1,000 males) increased to 1,020 compared to 991 in 2015-16.

The sex ratio at birth, for children born in the past five years, stands at 929 females for every 1,000 males. The sex ratio at birth of just 929 for the five years preceding the latest survey is still well below the mark of 952 that the WHO estimates as the natural sex ratio at birth.

• The neonatal mortality rate (NNMR) is down to 24.9 per 1000 live births.
• The infant mortality rate (IMR) is down to 35.2 per 1000 live births.
• The survey found a slight dip in the prevalence of stunting among children aged five years or younger – from 38% in the previous NFHS 2015-16 to 36%. Stunting is higher among children in rural areas (37%) than in urban areas (30%) in 2019-21.
• In NFHS-5, more than three-fourths (77%) of children aged 12-23 months were fully immunized, compared with 62 per cent in NFHS-4.
• Institutional Births have increased substantially from 79 per cent to 89 per cent in India. Even in rural areas around 87 per cent of births are delivered in Institutions and the same is 94 percent in urban areas. Over 91 percent of districts have more than 70 per cent of births in the last 5 years that took place in health facilities
• Compared with NFHS-4, the prevalence of overweight or obesity has increased in most States/UTs in NFHS-5. At the national level, it increases from 21 per cent to 24 per cent among women and 19 percent to 23 per cent among men.
• Family planning has gone up, with 66.7 per cent of currently married women in the age group of 15 to 49 opting for contraceptives.The use of modern methods of contraceptives including condoms, pills, IUDs and injectables has also gone up from 47 to 56.5 percent of married women opting for them.

• However, it also finds that the “Unmet need for family planning methods” remains highest among the lowest wealth quintile (11.4 percent).Only 50.7 percent of women in the lowest wealth quintile used modern contraceptives, compared to 58.7 per cent of women in the highest quintile.
• Female sterilisation is still the most popular method of contraception.37.9 percent of married women between the ages of 15 to 49 underwent female sterilisation. This is nearly 2 percent more than in 2015-16.
• 20-24-year-old women who got married before the age of 18 has gone down from 26.8 percent to 23.3 percent.
• India’s total fertility rate, an average number of children per women, has seen a decline from 2.2 children per woman in 2015-16) to 2 children in 2019-21.
• the fall in TFR among Muslims has been the sharpest at 2.36 children per woman as compared to 2.62 kids per woman in 2015-16. There are only five States in India, which are above replacement level of fertility of 2.1. They are Bihar (2.98), Meghalaya (2.91), Uttar Pradesh (2.35), Jharkhand (2.26) Manipur (2.17).
• Adolescent fertility rate (women between 15-19 years of age) also saw a decline from 51 per cent to 43 per cent. In rural India, the number was nearly twice (49) that of urban India (27).
• The proportion of pregnant women who had an ANC visit in the first trimester increased from 59 to 70 per cent between NFHS-4 and NFHS-5. Considerable progress is noticed in 4+ ANC at the national level from 51 per cent in 2015-16 to 58 per cent in 2019-21.
• 57 percent of all women aged 15-49 years were found to be anaemic, whereas 25 percent of men in the same age group have anaemia. In fact, the prevalence of Anaemia has gone up in all categories, including men and women of all ages.
• Nearly one in five households in India practise open defecation, the survey found that 83% of 636,699 households sampled had access to toilets, with greater accessibility in urban areas (96%) than in rural areas (76%).
• Between NFHS-4 and NFHS-5, the use of clean cooking fuel (44% to 59%) and improved sanitation facilities (49% to 70%), including a hand-washing facility with soap and water (60% to 78%) have improved considerably.
• The extent to which married women usually participate in three household decisions (about health care for herself; making major household purchases; visit to her family or relatives) indicates that their participation in decision making is high, The prevalence of women having a bank or savings account that they use has increased from 53 to 79 percent in the last 4 years.
• Households with at least one member covered under a health insurance/financing scheme went up from 28.7 percent to 41 precent.