The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) in India was initiated in the early 1990s with the first NFHS being conducted in 1992-93. Since then, India has successfully completed four rounds - NFHS-2 in 1998-99, NFHS-3 in 2005-06, NFHS-4 in 2015-16 and NFHS-5 in 2019-21.All five rounds of the survey were conducted under the stewardship of the Ministry of Healthand Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India, with the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, as the nodal agency and technical assistance provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through ICF. The main objectives of the NFHS programme have been to strengthen India’s demographic and health database by providing information that is both reliable and relied upon; to strengthen the survey research capabilities of Indian institutions to provide, analyse, and disseminate high-quality data; and to anticipate and meet the country’s needs for data on emerging health and family welfare issues. In 2023-2024, India is implementing the sixth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6). Like its predecessors, NFHS-6 is being conducted under the stewardship of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. For the first time, in NFHS-6 all aspects of the survey are being coordinated solely by the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai. The survey is being implemented by a group of survey organizations and Population Research Centres, chosen through a rigorous selection procedure. NFHS-6 will provide estimates of the levels of fertility, infant and child mortality, and other family welfare and health indicators by background characteristics at the national and district levels; and measure trends in family welfare and health indicators over time at the national and district levels.
The First National Family Health Survey (NFHS-1) was conducted in 1992-93. The survey collected extensive information on population, health, and nutrition, with an emphasis on women and young children. Eighteen Population Research Centres (PRCs), located in universities and institutes of national repute, assisted IIPS in all stages of conducting NFHS-1. All the state-level and national-level reports for the survey have already been published (48 reports in all).
The Second National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2) was conducted in 1998-99 in all 26 states of India with added features on the quality of health and family planning services, domestic violence, reproductive health, anemia, the nutrition of women, and the status of women. The results of the survey are currently being published.
The Third National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) was carried out in 2005-2006. Eighteen Research Organizations including five Population Research Centres carried out the survey in 29 states of India. The funding for NFHS-3 is provided by USAID, DFID, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF, UNFPA, and MOHFW, GOI., ICF (USA), is providing technical assistance for NFHS-3, and the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) and the National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) are providing technical assistance for the HIV component.
The 2015-16 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), the fourth in the NFHS series, provides information on population, health, and nutrition for India and each state and union territory. All four NFHS surveys have been conducted under the stewardship of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India. MoHFW designated the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, as the nodal agency for all of the surveys. Funding for NFHS-4 was provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), UNICEF, UNFPA, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Government of India. ICF provided technical assistance through The DHS Program, which is funded by USAID. Assistance for the HIV component of the survey was provided by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) and the National AIDS Research Institute (NARI), Pune. NFHS-4 fieldwork was conducted by 14 field agencies, and seven laboratories conducted the HIV testing (see Appendix Table XX). Data collection took place in two phases from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2016. NFHS-4 was designed to provide information on sexual behaviour; HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour; and domestic violence only at the state level (in the state module), while most indicators in the district module are reported at the district level. The primary objective of the 2015-16 National Family Health Survey is to provide essential data on health and family welfare, as well as data on emerging issues in these areas. The clinical, anthropometric, and biochemical (CAB) component of NFHS-4 is designed to provide vital estimates of the prevalence of malnutrition, anaemia, hypertension, HIV, and high blood glucose levels through a series of biomarker tests and measurements.
The National Family Health Survey 2019-21 (NFHS-5), the fifth in the NFHS series, provides information on population, health, and nutrition for India, each state/union territory (UT), and for 707 districts as on March 31 st 2017. All five NFHS surveys have been conducted under the stewardship of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India. MoHFW designated the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, as the nodal agency for all the rounds of NFHS. Funding for NFHS-5 was provided by the MoHFW, Government of India. ICF, USA provided technical assistance through the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program, which is funded by USAID. Assistance for the Dried Blood Sample (DBS) component of the survey was provided by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National AIDS Research Institute (NARI), Pune. NFHS-5 fieldwork for India was conducted in two phases— Phase-I from 17 June 2019 to 30 January 2020 covering 17 states and 5 UTs and Phase-II from 2 January 2020 to 30 April 2021 covering 11 states and 3 UTs — by 17 Field Agencies and gathered information from 636,699 households, 724,115 women, and 101,839 men. Like NFHS-4, NFHS-5 also provides district-level estimates for many important indicators. The contents of NFHS-5 are similar to NFHS-4 to allow comparisons over time. However, NFHS-5 includes some new topics, such as preschool education, disability, access to a toilet facility, death registration, bathing practices during menstruation, and methods and reasons for abortion. The scope of clinical, anthropometric, and biochemical testing (CAB) has also been expanded to include measurement of waist and hip circumferences, and the age range for the measurement of blood pressure and blood glucose has been expanded. However, HIV testing was not included in NFHS-5. The NFHS-5 sample was designed to provide national, state/union territory (UT), and district level estimates of various indicators covered in the survey. However, estimates of indicators of sexual behaviour; husband’s background and woman’s work; HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour; and domestic violence are available only at the state/union territory (UT) and national level.
In 2023-2024, India is conducting the sixth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6). Like its predecessors, NFHS-6 will be conducted under the stewardship of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). Funding for NFHS-6 is being provided by the MoHFW, Government of India. For the first time, in NFHS-6 all aspects of the survey will be coordinated solely by the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai.
The survey will be implemented by a group of survey organizations and Population Research Centres, chosen through a rigorous selection procedure. NFHS-6 will provide estimates of the levels of fertility, infant and child mortality, and other family welfare and health indicators by background characteristics at the national and district levels; and measure trends in family welfare and health indicators over time at the national and district levels.
