Measuring the change: The Hindu Editorial on reliability of socio-economic surveys
2 years, 7 months ago

Measuring the change: The Hindu Editorial on reliability of socio-economic surveys

The Hindu  

The fifth edition of the National Family Health Survey provides a valuable insight into changes underway in Indian society. When highlights were made public last year, the focus was on India’s declining total fertility rate that had, for the first time in the country’s history, dipped to below the replacement level, or a TFR of 2.1. If the trend were to persist, India’s population was on the decline in line with what has been observed in developed countries, and theoretically means improved living standards per capita and greater gender equity. Because this TFR had been achieved across most States, two notable exceptions being most populous Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, it was also evidence that population decline could be achieved without coercive state policies and family planning has struck deep roots. This question made it for the first time in the family health survey as did another question, about the number of registered births and deaths, in the family survey.

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History of this topic

Naidu, Stalin and now Bhagwat flag India’s falling TFR: 8 things to know
3 weeks ago

Naidu, Stalin and now Bhagwat flag India’s falling TFR: 8 things to know

Firstpost  

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat advocated expressed concern over India’s declining population growth and advocated for each couple to have at least three children. He said if the total fertility rate of a society falls below 2.1, it faces risk of extinction Each couple should have at least three children, advocated Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat as he expressed concerns …

More Than a Social Issue: Why Women’s Empowerment is an Economic Imperative
4 months, 3 weeks ago

More Than a Social Issue: Why Women’s Empowerment is an Economic Imperative

News 18  

“Empowering women isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s the smart thing to do.” – Barack Obama India stands at a critical juncture in its pursuit of inclusive economic growth, where the interplay of health, gender equality, and economic policies is more significant than ever. The recently tabled Economic Survey 2024 and the Union Budget have brought to …

India's elderly population expected to double by 2050, with 346 million aged 60 and above: UNFPA
5 months ago

India's elderly population expected to double by 2050, with 346 million aged 60 and above: UNFPA

New Indian Express  

NEW DELHI: India's elderly population is expected to double by 2050, UNFPA India chief Andrea Wojnar said, stressing that more investment in healthcare, housing and pensions is needed, especially for older women who are "more likely to live alone and face poverty." "With India projected to be 50 percent urban by 2050, building smart cities, strong infrastructure, and affordable housing …

Bihar caste-based survey | Data will help in upliftment of all sections: CM Nitish Kumar's first reaction
1 year, 2 months ago

Bihar caste-based survey | Data will help in upliftment of all sections: CM Nitish Kumar's first reaction

India TV News  

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday hailed the team that engaged in the work of caste-based enumeration and said the data of the survey will help to make appropriate policies for the people from every section. Taking to microblogging site X, he wrote, "Today, on the auspicious occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, the data of caste-based survey conducted in Bihar …

COMMENT | Don’t shoot the messenger: Modi government’s uneasy relationship with survey findings
1 year, 3 months ago

COMMENT | Don’t shoot the messenger: Modi government’s uneasy relationship with survey findings

The Hindu  

Published : Aug 26, 2023 16:21 IST - 6 MINS READ The findings of household surveys provide valuable information on the state of the nation and the well-being of its population. For example, Dr Shamika Ravi, member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, argued that India’s surveys have a rural bias and are based on “unsound data collection frameworks” …

Linear regression: The Hindu Editorial on the government’s response to data on its policies
1 year, 4 months ago

Linear regression: The Hindu Editorial on the government’s response to data on its policies

The Hindu  

Even as the Union government suggests that there were prima facie reasons for the suspension of the Director of the International Institute for Population Sciences, K.S. Other surveys, i.e., the National Statistical Office survey from October 2018, the National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey of 2019-20 and the Multiple Indicator Survey released earlier this year, also indicated that many villages were …

Patralekha Chatterjee | Delay over Census hurting the way India is governed
1 year, 5 months ago

Patralekha Chatterjee | Delay over Census hurting the way India is governed

Deccan Chronicle  

We are past the halfway mark in 2023. Ramesh, a physician, and a former national and international civil servant, puts it: “The population census is an important apolitical, anonymous, value-neutral data management exercise.” It is a large-scale population survey, down to the village level, and gathers detailed information about the population, demographics, and socio-economic characteristics of the country. “Contemporary census …

Health Matters | How much money is too much money for vaccines?
1 year, 5 months ago

Health Matters | How much money is too much money for vaccines?

The Hindu  

Ultimately affordability decides entitlement. There is also sufficient evidence to back the common knowledge that India has a high burden of out-of-pocket expenditure for health care, meaning payment for health services is made by the patients themselves. Back to pricing, it is also why the low-cost DNA test to detect cervical cancer within 45 minutes comes as good news, specifically …

Centre defends National Family Health Survey-6 questionnaire, says disability data won’t change fast
1 year, 6 months ago

Centre defends National Family Health Survey-6 questionnaire, says disability data won’t change fast

The Hindu  

Disability data will not change very fast and there is no reason to collect this data every three years, said the Health Ministry, in response to criticism over the exclusion of disability-related questions in the sixth round of National Family Health Survey which is set to begin shortly. In its two-page communication, dated June 22, the Department said that most …

India looks at devising its own standards to assess socio-economic progress
1 year, 6 months ago

India looks at devising its own standards to assess socio-economic progress

The Hindu  

Health activists are divided about the Central Government’s move to discard what it calls the one-size-fit-all international data parameters used to measure the socio-economic progress of the country. Central Government has cited three widely used data-driven development indicators — childhood stunting, female labour force participation rate by International Labour Organization and life expectancy at birth by United Nations in its …

Explained | Why is India rethinking its anaemia policy?
1 year, 6 months ago

Explained | Why is India rethinking its anaemia policy?

The Hindu  

The story so far: Questions related to anaemia are slated to be dropped from the National Family Health Survey scheduled to begin on July 6. According to the World Health Organization, anaemia is a condition in which the number of red blood cells or the haemoglobin concentration within them is lower than normal. According to the Health Ministry, assessment of …

Methodology of CSDS-Lokniti health survey
1 year, 10 months ago

Methodology of CSDS-Lokniti health survey

The Hindu  

The findings presented here are from a survey conducted among 1,522 citizens across five States – Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh — between March and April 2022. These five States were selected because they represent a range of overall health outcomes, a public/private healthcare mix, and are governed by different political parties. Rakesh Ranjan in Bihar, Sanjay …

Saving mothers: The Hindu Editorial on the importance of maternal health
2 years, 5 months ago

Saving mothers: The Hindu Editorial on the importance of maternal health

The Hindu  

Few things in science or social science are as incontestable as the importance of maternal health to human development. Maternal mortality indicates a woman’s ability to access health care, contraceptive devices, nutrition, and, in a sense, is a mark of the efficiency of a health-care system in responding to demands made of it. A recent study published in the peer-reviewed …

Data | Burden of family planning falls on women in India, female sterilisation widely preferred
2 years, 5 months ago

Data | Burden of family planning falls on women in India, female sterilisation widely preferred

The Hindu  

Awareness of family planning and contraceptive methods has seen an increase, according to NFHS-5. But the data also shows that 24% of women don’t find family planning necessary. Further, the knowledge of contraception is not fully bridging the gap in women’s family planning need - a trend seen across States Knowing your options The chart shows the awareness of select …

Key indicators from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) 2019-21 factsheet
2 years, 7 months ago

Key indicators from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) 2019-21 factsheet

Hindustan Times  

The National Family Health Survey 2019-21, the fifth in the NFHS series, provides information on population, health, and nutrition for India and each state/Union Territory. The NFHS-5 sample has been designed to provide national, state/UT, and district level estimates of various indicators covered in the survey. As in the earlier rounds, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of …

Lower Fertility Rate, Anaemia on the Rise: Findings From NFHS-5
2 years, 7 months ago

Lower Fertility Rate, Anaemia on the Rise: Findings From NFHS-5

The Quint  

Contraceptive use has gone up The highlight of the survey has been the positive up tick in modern contraceptive usage. Only 50.7 percent of women in the lowest wealth quintile used modern contraceptives, compared to 58.7 percent of women in the highest quintile. What it means: The onus of family planning still heavily leans on women, and far from modern …

Fertility falls, obesity goes up in India , says National Family Health Survey
2 years, 7 months ago

Fertility falls, obesity goes up in India , says National Family Health Survey

The Hindu  

The Total Fertility Rate, an average number of children per woman, has further declined from 2.2 to 2.0 at the national level between National Family Health Survey 4 and 5. There are only five States in India which are above replacement level of fertility of 2.1 — Bihar, Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand Manipur — as per the national report of …

India Saw Uptick in Deaths, Fewer Births Registered in First Year of Pandemic: CRS Data
2 years, 7 months ago

India Saw Uptick in Deaths, Fewer Births Registered in First Year of Pandemic: CRS Data

News 18  

India saw an uptick in the number of deaths registered in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, while the number of births registered in the Civil Registration System in that year declined 2.4 per cent as compared to 2019. The number of deaths increased by 6.2 per cent in 2020 from the year before that, according to data released …

India registers fewer births in pandemic year: CRS data
2 years, 7 months ago

India registers fewer births in pandemic year: CRS data

Hindustan Times  

New Delhi: The number of births registered in the Civil Registration System declined 2.4% on 2020, and the number of deaths increased 6.2%, according to data released by the Union ministry of home affairs on Tuesday. Given the trend in births and deaths registered in CRS over the years, the decline in birth rate can be explained by fewer births …

For India's marginalised, the precarity of health
2 years, 8 months ago

For India's marginalised, the precarity of health

Hindustan Times  

In India, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Muslims account for a combined population of 450 million, making them some of the largest marginalised social groups in the world. Recent research by demographers Sangita Vyas, Payal Hathi, and Aashish Gupta and Aashish Gupta and Nikkil Sudharsanan, show large and persistent disparities in life expectancy for SCs, STs, and Muslims, compared to …

Reaping India’s demographic dividend
2 years, 11 months ago

Reaping India’s demographic dividend

The Hindu  

A nation’s growth requires the productive contribution of all segments of society, particularly the children and the youth, who need to be provided opportunities for self-expression. Forward-looking policies Countries like Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea have already shown us how demographic dividend can be reaped to achieve incredible economic growth by adopting forward-looking policies and programmes to empower the youth …

Needed, a public health data architecture for India
3 years ago

Needed, a public health data architecture for India

The Hindu  

In a country perennially thirsty for reliable health data, the National Family Health Survey is like an oasis. Each survey costs upwards of ₹250 crore and the funding for different rounds of NFHS has been provided by the United States Agency for International Development, the Department for International Development, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF, the United Nations Population …

Families in distress: Latest NFHS findings paint bleak picture
3 years ago

Families in distress: Latest NFHS findings paint bleak picture

The Hindu  

Towards the end of November 2021, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released two interesting documents. The report on NHA claimed that the share of the government’s health expenditure in the total gross domestic product increased from 1.15 per cent to 1.35 per cent in 2017-18. Likewise, it said, the share of total government expenditure in total health expenditure …

A close reading of the NFHS-5, the health of India
3 years ago

A close reading of the NFHS-5, the health of India

The Hindu  

The national health and demographic report card is finally completely out. For now, we need to appreciate the progress, especially given the abysmal state of India’s health infrastructure, which has been tragically apparent since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Editorial | Measuring progress: On the lessons of National Family Health Survey-5 To gauge this, the key metric to examine would be …

Measuring progress: The Hindu Editorial on the lessons of National Family Health Survey-5
3 years ago

Measuring progress: The Hindu Editorial on the lessons of National Family Health Survey-5

The Hindu  

A periodic assessment of health and social development indicators is crucial for any country that is still clawing its way towards achieving ideal standards in the Human Development Index. While gender ratio has, for the first time, recorded more women per 1,000 men, gender ratio at birth in the last five years still underlines the persistence of a deep-rooted son …

National Family Health Survey says women outnumber men
3 years ago

National Family Health Survey says women outnumber men

The Hindu  

The fifth edition of the National Family Health Survey confirmed signs of a demographic shift in India. However, sex ratio at birth for children born in the last five years only improved from 919 per 1,000 males in 2015-16 to 929 per 1,000, underscoring that boys, on average, continued to have better odds of survival than girls. Editorial | Measuring …

India's fertility rate drops below replacement level for the first time: Details
3 years ago

India's fertility rate drops below replacement level for the first time: Details

India TV News  

Highlights Total Fertility Rates declined from 2.2 to 2.0 at national level CPR increased substantially from 54% to 67% at all-India level Institutional births have increased substantially from 79 pc to 89 pc at all-India level India Fertility Rate News: In an indication that the population growth in the country is stabilising, India's fertility, the average of number of children …

T.N. ahead in reproductive, child health
3 years ago

T.N. ahead in reproductive, child health

The Hindu  

With significant improvements in several social and health parameters, when compared with the previous edition, the National Family Health Survey 5 seems to have set the State on its regular path ahead yet again, particularly in reproductive and child health. While the drastic reduction in vaccination rates during NFHS 4 was disconcerting for a State that is usually ahead of …

India's Total Fertility Rate Declines to 2 from 2.2: Health Ministry Survey
3 years ago

India's Total Fertility Rate Declines to 2 from 2.2: Health Ministry Survey

News 18  

India’s Total Fertility Rate, the average number of children per woman, has further declined from 2.2 to 2 at the national level and ranged from 1.4 in Chandigarh to 2.4 in Uttar Pradesh, as per a Health Ministry survey. NITI Aayog’s Member, Health, Dr Vinod Kumar Paul, and Union Health and Family Welfare Secretary Rajesh Bhushan released the factsheets of …

NFHS Survey: Fertility rate dips to 2.0; more than half women, children anaemic in 14 states, UTs
3 years ago

NFHS Survey: Fertility rate dips to 2.0; more than half women, children anaemic in 14 states, UTs

Firstpost  

The Centre has released the factsheets of key indicators on population, reproductive and child health, family welfare, nutrition and others for India as well as 14 states and UTs under phase two, of the 2019-21 NFHS-5 New Delhi: Anaemia among children and women continues to be a cause of concern, with more than half of them being found anaemic in …

Bihar health minister for mass campaign to control population
3 years, 5 months ago

Bihar health minister for mass campaign to control population

Hindustan Times  

Bihar health minister Mangal Pandey on Wednesday advocated for a mass campaign with public support to control population boom in the state, that had shown a decadal growth rate of 25.1% in the last census. Pandey said it was due to social mobilisation campaign and mass awareness drive that for the first time this year, the state’s decadal population growth …

First phase of National Family Health Survey-5 shows startling trends in out-of-pocket health expenses
3 years, 11 months ago

First phase of National Family Health Survey-5 shows startling trends in out-of-pocket health expenses

Firstpost  

Despite swift advances in healthcare, Universal Health Coverage remains a distant dream for India. Image credit: Pixabay NFHS data reveals healthcare costs The Out-of-Pocket expenditure incurred by people while accessing public health services is on the rise. NFHS V data reveals that average out of pocket expenditure per delivery in a public health facility has risen in 10 states and …

Discouraging numbers: On National Family Health Survey 2019-20
4 years ago

Discouraging numbers: On National Family Health Survey 2019-20

The Hindu  

With a debilitating death toll and an economic recession, India has had among the worst effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. But an express indication of the possible scale of the crisis can be gleaned from the data from the newly released National Family Health Survey 2019-20 which was conducted before the pandemic and its impact. In indicators related to women’s …

National Family Health Survey: As Covid swirls, lifestyle diseases rise in India
4 years ago

National Family Health Survey: As Covid swirls, lifestyle diseases rise in India

India Today  

One thing that the new National Family Health Survey has clearly established is that child health has suffered much in the last five years. The new official data, released by the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on December 12, is from the first phase of the 2019-20 round of India's official health data household survey. The data shows that most …

Population Control- Any Coercion To Have Specific Number Of Children Is Counter-Productive, Leads To Demographic Distortions: Centre Tells Supreme Court
4 years ago

Population Control- Any Coercion To Have Specific Number Of Children Is Counter-Productive, Leads To Demographic Distortions: Centre Tells Supreme Court

Live Law  

"The family welfare programme in India is voluntary in nature which enables couples to decide the size of their family and of the family planning methods, best suited to them. Filing its response to a petition filed by BJP leader and lawyer, Ashwani Kumar Upadhyay seeking enactment of law to control population and enforce family planning, the MoHFW avers that …

NFHS throws up a mixed bag for State
4 years ago

NFHS throws up a mixed bag for State

The Hindu  

The latest National Family Health Survey, conducted under the aegis of the Union Ministry for Health and Family Welfare, has thrown up a mixed bag for the State. But, the sheer drop in universal immunisation figures and nutritional parameters — an increase in anaemia across all age groups, increase in wasting and stunting in children under five years — calls …

Mortality Rate of Infants, Those Under Five Years Dip in 18 States and UTs, Reveals National Health Survey
4 years ago

Mortality Rate of Infants, Those Under Five Years Dip in 18 States and UTs, Reveals National Health Survey

News 18  

Mortality rate among infants and those under five years of age fell in 18 states and union territories out of a total 22 surveyed, while 16 of them registered a rise in the percentage of under-five children who are underweight and severely wasted, according to the fifth National Family Health Survey. Thirteen states and UTs out of the 22 surveyed …

Cannot force couples into family planning: govt. tells Supreme Court
4 years ago

Cannot force couples into family planning: govt. tells Supreme Court

The Hindu  

The Centre told the Supreme Court on Saturday that it was against coercing couples into having a “certain number of children” in a bid to curb population explosion. “The Family Welfare Programme in India is voluntary in nature, which enables couples to decide the size of their family and adopt the family planning methods, best suited to them, according to …

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