ECONOMIC SURVEY 2022-23 ILLUSTRATES SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN QUALITY OF RURAL LIVES; HEALTH INDICATORS REGISTER UPTICK
REMARKABLE PROGRESS IN TOTAL FERTILITY RATE, IMR, INSTITUTIONAL BIRTHS, VACCINATION
REDUCTION IN STUNTING, WASTING AND UNDER WEIGHT CHILDREN
The Economic Survey 2022-23 tabled today by Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs has illustrated a significant improvement vis-à-vis 2015-16 in an array of indicators concerning the quality of rural lives, of which most health indicators have registered an impressive uptick. These outcome-oriented statistics establish tangible medium-run progress in rural living standards, aided by the policy focus on basic amenities and efficient programme implementation. This indicates the outcome of some of the important schemes/programmes of the Government in various areas to improve the quality of life in rural areas.
Quality of rural lives – findings from the National Family Health Survey 2019-21
As per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2019-21, various parameters related to maternal and child health have reported encouraging numbers (as below).
| | For Rural Areas | NFHS 4 (2015-16) | NFHS 5 (2019-21) |
Population 
| Sex ratio at birth for children born in the last five years (females per 1,000 males) | 927 | 931 |
Total fertility rate (children per woman) | 2.4 | 2.1 |
Health 
| Households with any usual member covered under a health insurance/financing scheme (per cent) | 28.9 | 42.4 |
Infant mortality rate | 46.0 | 38.4 |
Mothers who had an antenatal check-up in the first trimester (%) | 54.2 | 67.9 |
Mothers who consumed iron folic acid for 100 days or more when they were pregnant (per cent) | 25.9 | 40.2 |
Institutional births (per cent) | 75.1 | 86.7 |
Children aged 12-23 months fully vaccinated based on information from vaccination card only (per cent) | 61.3 | 84.0 |
Children aged 12-23 months who received most of their vaccinations in a public health facility (per cent) | 94.2 | 97.0 |
Prevalence of diarrhoea in the 2 weeks preceding the survey (per cent) | 9.6 | 7.7 |
Children under 5 years who are stunted (height-for-age) (per cent) | 41.2 | 37.3 |
Children under 5 years who are wasted (weight-for-height) (per cent) | 21.5 | 19.5 |
Children under 5 years who are underweight (weight-forage) (per cent) | 38.3 | 33.8 |
Children age 6-23 months receiving an adequate diet | 8.8 | 11.0 |
Women whose Body Mass Index (BMI) is below normal (BMI <18.5 kg/ ) (per cent) | 26.7 | 21.2 |
Children aged 6-59 months who are anaemic (per cent) | 59.5 | 68.3 |
All women aged 15-49 years who are anaemic (per cent) | 54.3 | 58.5 |
Men aged 15-49 years who are anaemic (per cent) | 25.3 | 27.4 |
Source: National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) 2015-16 and 2019-21, MoHFW
Quality of rural lives improvements show better maternal and child health outcomes and broader rural health coverage. Improvement in rural health indicators is reflected across multiple maternal and child health metrics between successive national surveys, indicating medium run gains in the quality of rural lives linked to targeted government programmes and basic amenity interventions. Key outcome gains include declines in total fertility and infant mortality, higher institutional births, increased antenatal care and iron folic acid consumption during pregnancy, expanded health insurance coverage, and markedly higher full vaccination coverage for children. The data also show reductions in stunting, wasting and underweight children alongside increased anaemia prevalence among children and women.
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