Lok Sabha Question No. 2066 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-08-02
Subject: Stunting and Wasting among Children
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri S Venkatesan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2066

TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.08.2024

## STUNTING AND WASTING AMONG CHILDREN

## 2066.   SHRI S VENKATESAN

Will the Minister of Women and Child Development be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the government has any data on under-nourishment among Women, stunting and wasting among children; and
- (b) if so, the details thereof indicating the percentage of women and children affected by the said deficiencies, State/ UT wise?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI ANNPURNA DEVI)

(a)  and  (b)  Data  regarding  under-nourishment  among  women  of  reproductive  age group is maintained by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). The report of NFHS-5 is available on National Family Health Survey portal (http://nfhs.in/nfhsnew/nfhsuser/publication.php).

Various rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted since 1992-93 have shown improvement in malnutrition indicators in children. Details of these indicators for children under 5 years since NFHS-1 to NFHS-5 are given below:

| NFHS Survey          |   Underweight% |   Wasting% |   Stunting% |
|----------------------|----------------|------------|-------------|
| NFHS-1 (1992-93)*    |           53.4 |       17.5 |        52   |
| NFHS-2 (1998-99)**   |           47   |       15.5 |        45.5 |
| NFHS-3 (2005-6)***   |           42.5 |       19.8 |        48   |
| NFHS-4 (2015-16) *** |           35.8 |       21   |        38.4 |
| NFHS-5 (2019-21) *** |           32.1 |       19.3 |        35.5 |

The above table gives a representative picture of malnutrition indicators among children of 0-3 years, 0-4 years and 0-5 years age at that time. The table shows that level of malnutrition among children has been coming down steadily during the last 30 years.

The projected population of children up to 5 years for the year 2021 is 13.75 crore (source: Population  Projections for India  and  States  2011-2036,  National Commission on Population, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare). However, 7.65 crore children up to 5 years are enrolled in Anganwadis and registered on Poshan Tracker of the Ministry of Women & Child Development.  As per June 2024 data of  Poshan  Tracker,  7.37  Crore  of  these  children  were  measured  on  growth parameters.  36.5%  of  these  children  have  been  found  to  be  stunted,  16.4% children have been found to be underweight and 6% children have been found to be wasted.

Further, the projected population of children up to 6 years for the year 2021 is 16.1 crore. As per June 2024 data of Poshan Tracker, 8.91 crore children (0-6 years) are enrolled in Anganwadis out of whom 8.57 crore children were measured on growth parameters. 35.6% of these children (0-6 years) have been found to be stunted and 17.2% children (0-6 years) have been found to be underweight.

The State wise data of nutrition status of children is placed at Annexure-I .

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## Annexure I

## ANNEXURE REFERRED IN REPLY TO PART (b) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2066 FOR 02.08.2024 REGARDING 'STUNTING AND WASTING AMONG CHILDREN' ASKED BY SHRI S VENKATESAN

## State wise details of malnourished children in the country for June 2024 from Poshan Tracker is as follows:

| S. No   | State                              | Stunted (%) (0-6 years)   | Underweight (%) (0-6 years)   | Wasted (%) (0-5 years)   |
|---------|------------------------------------|---------------------------|-------------------------------|--------------------------|
| 1       | Andhra Pradesh                     | 20.96                     | 10.59                         | 5.61                     |
| 2       | Arunachal Pradesh                  | 28                        | 8.5                           | 4.03                     |
| 3       | Assam                              | 39.96                     | 17.17                         | 4.59                     |
| 4       | Bihar                              | 39.99                     | 22.87                         | 9.81                     |
| 5       | Chhattisgarh                       | 17.83                     | 13.34                         | 8.92                     |
| 6       | Goa                                | 5.91                      | 2.39                          | 0.85                     |
| 7       | Gujarat                            | 38.95                     | 23.02                         | 9.16                     |
| 8       | Haryana                            | 23.13                     | 8.31                          | 4.22                     |
| 9       | Himachal Pradesh                   | 17.21                     | 6.5                           | 1.73                     |
| 10      | Jharkhand                          | 38.63                     | 18.35                         | 6.79                     |
| 11      | Karnataka                          | 35.86                     | 17.88                         | 3.9                      |
| 12      | Kerala                             | 30.28                     | 9.42                          | 2.59                     |
| 13      | Madhya Pradesh                     | 40.49                     | 27.59                         | 8.46                     |
| 14      | Maharashtra                        | 42.54                     | 17.8                          | 4.84                     |
| 15      | Manipur                            | 11.65                     | 5.15                          | 0.77                     |
| 16      | Meghalaya                          | 21.93                     | 6.37                          | 0.79                     |
| 17      | Mizoram                            | 22.82                     | 6.19                          | 2.51                     |
| 18      | Nagaland                           | 23.72                     | 6.38                          | 6.45                     |
| 19      | Odisha                             | 22.34                     | 12.35                         | 3.34                     |
| 20      | Punjab                             | 16.67                     | 5.65                          | 3.17                     |
| 21      | Rajasthan                          | 32.82                     | 17.07                         | 6.24                     |
| 22      | Sikkim                             | 12.04                     | 2.36                          | 1.96                     |
| 23      | Tamil Nadu                         | 15                        | 7.24                          | 3.84                     |
| 24      | Telangana                          | 31.49                     | 17.54                         | 6.68                     |
| 25      | Tripura                            | 35.91                     | 16.42                         | 6.65                     |
| 26      | Uttar Pradesh                      | 45.13                     | 19.46                         | 5.07                     |
| 27      | Uttarakhand                        | 22.37                     | 6.07                          | 2.11                     |
| 28      | West Bengal                        | 33.97                     | 12.58                         | 7.87                     |
| 29      | Andaman & Nicobar Islands          | 13.94                     | 6.65                          | 3.51                     |
| 30      | Dadra & Nagar Haveli - Daman & Diu | 38.33                     | 27.52                         | 8.61                     |
| 31      | Delhi                              | 39.39                     | 19.44                         | 3.22                     |
| 32      | J&K                                | 12.41                     | 3.2                           | 1.35                     |
| 33      | Ladakh                             | 12.62                     | 2.73                          | 0.66                     |
| 34      | Lakshadweep                        | 46.29                     | 23.3                          | 13.22                    |
| 35      | Puducherry                         | 32.27                     | 10.88                         | 7.24                     |
| 36      | UT-Chandigarh                      | 19.42                     | 12.11                         | 2.88                     |
| India   | India                              | 35.6%                     | 17.2%                         | 6%                       |