NFHS-6 in Six Numbers
NFHS-6 in Six Numbers
Published on :- July 16th, 2026
India's sixth National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6) was conducted in 2023-24 and the first report from this survey was recently released. Here are six clear stories about where the country's health related indicators are heading.
Insurance Coverage has its biggest jump yet
The standout movement is seen in health insurance coverage. The proportion of households with at least one member covered by a health scheme or financing climbed from 41.0% in NFHS-5 to 60.2% in NFHS-6, a gain of more than 19 percentage points. This follows the full national rollout of Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), which was only partly deployed when the last survey was taken. Three in five households now sit inside the formal health financing net, compared to two in the last survey. Turning that coverage into actual usage is the opportunity ahead.Maternal and Postnatal care has reached its highest
Every maternal healthcare indicator is moving in the right direction. First-trimester antenatal care prevalence increased from 70.0% to 76.2%, while the share of mothers receiving at least four antenatal care visits rose from 58.1% to 65.2%. Institutional births continued to approach universal coverage, increasing from 88.6% to 90.6%, and postnatal care reached its highest level yet, rising from 78.0% to 82.6%. Together, this reflects stronger access to and utilization of maternal healthcare services across the country.Limited progress in adoption of contraception
Modern contraceptive use like female sterilization dipped, from 56.4% to 52.7%, even as use of any method rose, which points to a rise in traditional methods such as the rhythm method. These are the indicators where focused prevention, screening and counselling can deliver India's biggest health gains over the coming decade.Child nutrition shows a big win and a clear next target
Fall in levels of stunting continues but the share of children considered as wasted has not reduced in the last decade. The percentage of children under five who are stunted dropped from 35.5% to 29.3%, a six-point improvement that reflects better long-term growth. Wasting, which captures more recent undernutrition, held roughly steady at 19.0% (from 19.3%), though severe wasting eased from 7.7% to 5.2%. With the WHO target for wasting set below 5%, this is the most clearly defined opportunity in the survey. The same systems that have reduced stunting can now be aimed at the children most at risk in the short term.Lifestyle health is the opportunity of the decade
As India grows more prosperous, its health profile is shifting, and NFHS-6 captures the early signs. Diabetes is rising. The proportion of adults with high or very high blood sugar, or on medication, increased among women from 13.5% to 17.8%, and among men from 15.6% to 20.9%. Overweight and obesity climbed too, reaching 30.7% of women and 27.3% of men. Blood pressure metrics offer some encouragement, easing slightly for both women and men.The geographic split: the floor is rising, but the map is pulling apart
The state fact sheets tell three stories at once. The first is that the floor is rising. States that have long anchored the bottom of India's maternal health tables posted the round's largest gains: Jharkhand lifted the share of mothers receiving at least four antenatal visits from 38.7 to 59.0 per cent, Bihar moved from 25.2 to 37.6, and Madhya Pradesh from 57.5 to 69.5, while full child immunisation climbed 15 points in Assam to 81.7 per cent, 14.5 for Andhra Pradesh to 87.7 and 11 points in Uttar Pradesh to 81.4. The catch-up is genuine, if unfinished, since Bihar's antenatal coverage remains the second lowest in the country even after its jump.The fuller picture is still to be seen
While this first release of new information revealing the state of people’s health and healthcare is revealing, to build the fuller picture more information is awaited. For example, indicators around anaemia among women, men and children, infant and under-five mortality, and women's literacy are not yet part of this release. These are among the indicators that the country uses to benchmark itself against its SDG and National Health Policy goals. Additionally, just like disparity among states, there are intra-state disparities within states as well. Only with the full data will complete the picture and let India track progress with more precision. Until then, this early release NFHS-6 data provides a promising preview with some positive stories and other opportunities for development, making the full report the key milestone to watch.NOTE: NFHS-6 (2023-24) figures are provisional, released in May 2026, and the survey was restructured since NFHS-5, so the comparisons here describe direction rather than exact change. Figures come from the NFHS national fact sheets over the years.