Only 59% households use clean fuel for cooking; 19% don’t have access to toilet, shows National Family Health Survey-5

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While 97 percent of households have electricity (95% of rural households and 99% of urban households), only 59 percent of households use clean fuel for cooking, the fifth edition of the National Family Health Survey released by the Union health ministry on May 6 revealed.

The report based on surveying nearly 6.36 lakh households across 707 districts in India between 2019-2021 also said that 96 percent of households use an improved source of drinking water and 69 percent of households use an improved sanitation facility that is not shared with other households. However, 8 percent use a facility that would be considered improved if it were not shared.

Further, as per the survey, 19 percent of the households are devoid of sanitation facility, which implies that the household members practice open defecation.

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According to the survey, 27 percent of the population is aged below 15 years while 12 percent is aged 60 and above.

The report compiled by the Indian Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai, revealed that 90 percent of the households have an Aadhaar card, while ninety-six percent either have a bank or a post office account.

The survey also highlighted that 89 percent of children under 5 years of age had their date of birth registered. Further, only 71 percent of deaths of usual household members were registered with the civil authorities (83 percent of urban households and 66 percent of rural households).

Among children under 18 years of age, 5 percent are orphans with either one or both parents dead, while 3 percent are not living with a biological parent, the survey revealed, adding that 40 percent of boys and girls aged 2-4 years attend pre-school.

An analysis of the attendance at schools showed that the net ratio falls from 83 percent in primary school to 71 percent in middle, secondary, and higher secondary school. The major reason behind the trend, according to the families surveyed, is that the child is not interested in studies (36 percent for male children and 21 percent for female children).

The survey also found that just 1 percent of the de jure household population had any disability and the most prominent type of disability was locomotor among 0.4 percent families surveyed.

The survey also highlighted that 38 percent men and 9 percent women aged 15 years and above, use tobacco products in any forms. On the other hand, 1 percent women and 19 percent men in the given age group consume alcohol.