National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) 2019-20 Union Territory Fact Sheet: Lakshadweep

Of the total people surveyed in Lakshadweep, 99.8 per cent lived in households with access to electricity.

Only 86.7 per cent of the population in rural areas of the union territory had access to an improved source of drinking water compared to 94.6 per cent in urban areas. According to the fact sheet, almost all of the people surveyed (99.8 per cent) were part of households using improved sanitation facilities.

In Lakshadweep, around 60 per cent of households had at least one member covered under a health insurance or financing scheme. The number was higher in rural areas (66.7 per cent) than in urban areas (58.4 per cent).

About 59.4 per cent of the households in the union territory used clean fuel (electricity, liquefied petroleum gas, natural gas or biogas) for cooking – 68.5 per cent in urban areas and 24.7 per cent in rural areas.

According to the fact sheet, 98.6 per cent of men in Lakshadweep were literate compared to 95.2 per cent of women (both aged 15-49 years). Respondents were considered literate if they had finished education till Class 9 and higher or if they were able to read a complete sentence or a part of it.

Among women aged 20-24 years, around 1.3 per cent had married before reaching the legal minimum age of 18 years. This was a slight decrease from NFHS-4 figures of 1.9 per cent.

The total fertility rate in Ladakh was recorded as 1.4 children per woman in NFHS-5, a fall from the estimate of 1.8 children per woman reported in NFHS-4.

Use of contraceptive methods among married women in Lakshadweep increased from 29.7 per cent in NFHS-4 to 52.6 per cent in NFHS-5. Around 30.1 per cent of married women (aged 15-49 years) used modern methods of contraception such as sterilisation, intrauterine devices, pills, injectables or condoms.

In the five years before the survey, 99.6 per cent of mothers had an antenatal check-up in the first trimester, a rise from the 90.6 per cent reported in NFHS-4. Further, 92.6 per cent of mothers in the union territory received postnatal care from a health personnel within two days of delivery – 97.8 per cent in rural areas and 90.7 per cent in urban areas.

As many as 99.6 per cent of deliveries in the five years prior to the survey were institutional deliveries. Overall, 65.3 per cent of institutional deliveries happened in public facilities – 56.3 per cent in urban areas and 92 per cent in rural areas.

In the union territory, 32 per cent of children under the age of five years were stunted (too short for their age), an increase since the NFHS-4 numbers of 26.8 per cent. The percentage of children who were wasted (too thin for their height) also rose from 13.7 per cent in NFHS-4 to 17.4 per cent in NFHS-5.

As high as 43.1 per cent of children between the ages of 6-59 months were anaemic in Lakshadweep – 36.1 per cent in rural areas and 45.5 per cent in urban areas. Among people aged 15-49 years, 25.8 per cent of women and 5.6 per cent of men also suffered from anaemia. However, the figures had fallen drastically since NFHS-4.

The percentage of men and women (aged 15-49 years) having ‘comprehensive’ knowledge of HIV/AIDS grew between NFHS-4 and NFHS-5. About 47 per cent of women and 65 per cent of men had comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS, up from 22 per cent and 31.2 per cent respectively.

The percentage of women who reported experiencing violence from their spouse decreased from 8.9 per cent in NFHS-4 to 1.3 per cent in NFHS-5. The percentage of women (18-29 years) who experienced sexual violence before the age of 18 years also fell from 2.5 per cent to 0.8 per cent during the same period.

Focus and Factoids by Yazhini Sathiamoorthy.

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