Health in India: NSS 71st Round (January-June 2014)

FOCUS

The health surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) are one of the primary sources of quantitative data on the health sector in India. The information collected by the surveys is used in planning and policy and as input for analyses by government organisations, academics, researchers and scholars.

NSSO began collecting information on health in its 7th round of surveys in 1953-54. It brought out the report Key Indicators of Social Consumption in India: Health, with the important results of its 71st round survey, in June 2015. Health in India, released in April 2016, presents the findings of that survey in greater detail.

The survey was conducted from January to June 2014, and this report compares the findings of the 71st round with earlier NSSO surveys. It also has chapters on morbidity and hospitalisation, childbirth and maternity care services, and the status of people aged 60 or above.

It has detailed tables on the number of people surveyed; the proportion of ailing people by age group and gender; the average medical expenditure for treatment per person; the average medical expenditure for hospitalised and non-hospitalised treatment; along with relevant graphs.

    FACTOIDS

  1. Both in rural and urban areas, the highest proportion of hospitalisation cases (around 25 per cent, excluding childbirth) reported infections such as fever, jaundice, tuberculosis, tetanus, diarrhoea and dysentery. 

  2. In the treatment of hospitalised patients, private health institutions dominated both in rural areas (58 per cent) and in urban areas (68 per cent).

  3. As much as 86 per cent of the rural population and 82 per cent of the urban population were not covered under any scheme of health expenditure support.

  4. To cover the costs of hospitalisation, 68 per cent of rural households depended primarily on their household income or savings and 25 per cent on borrowings. Among the urban population, 75 per cent of households relied on income or savings, and only 18 per cent on borrowings.

  5. Among all pregnancies reported, 77 per cent in rural areas and 74 per cent in urban areas ended in live births, while 2 per cent in rural areas and 3 per cent in urban areas saw abortions. The highest number of abortions (14 per cent) was observed in the youngest age group (under 20) in urban areas.

  6. In rural areas, 56 per cent of births took place in public hospitals and 24 per cent in private hospitals. In urban areas, the corresponding figures were 42 per cent and 48 per cent respectively. About 20 per cent of births took place outside a health facility in rural areas and 11 per cent in urban areas.

  7. An average of Rs. 5,544 was spent on the birth of a child in a health facility in rural areas, while it was Rs. 11,685 in urban areas.

  8. As many as 52 per cent of people aged 60 or above in rural areas and 51 per cent of them in urban areas had to depend on others for their day-to-day activities.

  9. Among those aged 60 or above who were economically dependent, 82 per cent in rural areas and 80 per cent in urban areas depended on their children for financial support.

  10. In the 80-plus age group, 27 per cent in urban areas and 34 per cent in rural areas reported immobility during the survey period.


    PARI Library's health archive project is part of an initiative supported by the Azim Premji University to develop a free-access repository of health-related reports relevant to rural India.

AUTHOR

National Sample Survey Office

COPYRIGHT

Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India

PUBLICATION DATE

11 Apr, 2016

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