4 August 2026·PIB

Update on NFHS-6

In this note

1. At a Glance

NFHS-6 (National Family Health Survey, round 6) covers 2023-24; National and State/UT Fact Sheets were released on 29 May 2026 [2].
Indicators were finalised by a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) in line with the Government's Data Harmonisation Initiative [1].
A key methodological shift: anaemia estimates will be sourced from an ICMR "gold standard" survey (intravenous haemoglobin testing) rather than the NFHS's own field method [1].
Relevant for Prelims (scheme/survey facts) and Mains GS-II (health governance, social sector indicators).

MoS Health Smt. Anupriya Patel gave a written Rajya Sabha reply (PIB release dated 04 Aug 2026) clarifying the process behind NFHS-6 fact sheet indicator selection and the anaemia data decision [1].
Follows the actual release of NFHS-6 National/State-UT Fact Sheets on 29 May 2026, showing improved maternal/child health indicators over NFHS-5 [2][3].

NFHS is an integrated survey conducted periodically by MoHFW covering fertility, family planning, maternal-child health, nutrition, morbidity, healthcare access, and women's empowerment [1].
NFHS-6 fieldwork: 2023-24; nodal agency International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai [3].
Sample: nearly 6.79 lakh households across 715 districts [3].
NFHS-5 (2019-21) is the immediate predecessor round, used as the baseline for comparison in NFHS-6 fact sheets [2][3].
TAC was constituted with representation from Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Ministry of Women & Child Development, MoSPI, Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, NITI Aayog, and Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities [1].

Item	Detail
Implementing Ministry	Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) [1]
Nodal Agency	International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai [3]
Survey round period	2023-24 [1]
Fact sheets released	29 May 2026 [2][3]
Sample size	~6.79 lakh households [3]
Districts covered	715 [3]
Anaemia data source	ICMR gold-standard IV haemoglobin testing survey (not NFHS field data) [1]
Indicator finalisation body	Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), per Data Harmonisation Initiative [1]

Social

Improvements in maternal-child indicators reflect on women's/child health equity: institutional deliveries up 88.6% → 90.6%; skilled birth attendance up 89.4% → 91.3% [3].
Nutrition gains: stunting down 38.4% (NFHS-4) → 29.3%; wasting 21% → 19%; underweight 35.8% → 31.8% [2].

Administrative/Governance

Shift to TAC-vetted, harmonised indicators aims to reduce inconsistency across government data systems (a long-standing critique of India's official statistics ecosystem) [1].
Outsourcing anaemia estimation to ICMR signals institutional acknowledgment of prior NFHS anaemia methodology limitations (capillary vs venous blood testing debate) [1].

Scientific/Technological

ICMR's gold-standard intravenous method for haemoglobin testing is more accurate than the finger-prick/HemoCue method historically used in NFHS, addressing overestimation concerns in past rounds [1].

Ethical/Governance

Cross-ministerial TAC composition (Jal Shakti, WCD, MoSPI, RGI, NITI Aayog, DEPwD) reflects a federalism-of-data approach to avoid single-agency bias [1].

29 May 2026: NFHS-6 National and State/UT Fact Sheets released [2][3].
04 Aug 2026: PIB release/Rajya Sabha written reply clarifying TAC's role and the ICMR-based anaemia estimate decision [1].

NFHS-6 fieldwork period: 2023-24 [1].
NFHS-6 fact sheets released on 29 May 2026 [2][3].
Nodal survey agency: IIPS, Mumbai [3].
Implementing ministry: Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, not MoSPI [1].
NFHS-6 anaemia estimates sourced from an ICMR survey using intravenous (gold-standard) haemoglobin testing [1].
Indicators finalised by a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) under the Data Harmonisation Initiative [1].
Sample size: nearly 6.79 lakh households across 715 districts [3].
Stunting in children fell from 38.4% (NFHS-4) to 29.3% (NFHS-6) [2].
Full immunization coverage (12-23 months) rose from 83.8% to 87.1% [2].
Rotavirus vaccination coverage jumped from 36.4% to 85.4% [2].
Institutional deliveries rose from 88.6% (NFHS-5) to 90.6% (NFHS-6) [3].
First-trimester ANC registration rose from 70.0% to 76.2% [3].
TAC members include NITI Aayog, RGI/Census Commissioner, MoSPI, Dept. of Drinking Water & Sanitation, WCD Ministry, DEPwD [1].
The written Rajya Sabha reply on NFHS-6 was given by MoS Health Anupriya Patel [1].

NFHS-5 (2019-21) — baseline for comparison; understand indicator trends.
Anaemia Mukt Bharat / POSHAN Abhiyaan — directly linked to anaemia/nutrition data used in NFHS.
Ayushman Bharat / National Health Mission — implementation frameworks whose outcomes NFHS measures.
Sample Registration System (SRS) & Civil Registration System (CRS) — other MoHFW/RGI data sources subject to the same harmonisation push.
NITI Aayog SDG India Index — uses NFHS-linked indicators; relevant to Data Harmonisation Initiative.
Census of India — RGI's role in TAC and broader data ecosystem context.
ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition — technical body behind the anaemia gold-standard survey.

Do not confuse NFHS (conducted by MoHFW via IIPS) with Annual Health Survey (AHS) or Census, which are different exercises [1].
NFHS-6 fact sheets were released on 29 May 2026, not the date of the PIB clarification (04 Aug 2026) — don't conflate release date with the Rajya Sabha reply date [1][2].
Anaemia figures in NFHS-6 fact sheets come from an ICMR survey, not from NFHS's own household testing — a frequently misattributed detail [1].
IIPS Mumbai is the nodal agency, not the parent ministry — MoHFW remains the implementing ministry [1][3].
Comparison baseline for NFHS-6 improvements is usually NFHS-5 (2019-21), though some indicators (e.g., stunting) are benchmarked against NFHS-4 (2015-16) — check which baseline a given stat uses [2][3].