GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 459
TO BE ANSWERED ON 03-02-2026
DELAY IN NFHS-6 REPORT
459 : SHRI DEREK O' BRIEN:
Will the Minister of HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:
(a) whether the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) is meant to be conducted once every five years;
(b) the year(s)...
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 459 TO BE ANSWERED ON 03-02-2026 DELAY IN NFHS-6 REPORT 459 : SHRI DEREK O' BRIEN:
Will the Minister of HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:
(a) whether the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) is meant to be conducted once every five years;
(b) the year(s) in which the fieldwork for the last round of NFHS was carried out and the date on which its report was published;
(c) the present status of NFHS-6, including completion of fieldwork and data processing;
(d) whether there has been a delay in releasing the NFHS-6 report and fact sheets and, if so, the reasons for this delay; and
(e) the details of the timeline for release of NFHS-6 report? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE (SMT. ANUPRIYA PATEL)
(a) to (e) The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW) conducts an integrated survey namely National Family Health Survey (NFHS). The survey provides data on health and family welfare and associated domains like characteristics of the population; fertility and fertility preferences;
family planning; infant and child mortality; maternal and child health; nutrition; morbidity and healthcare; women’s empowerment, etc. It is a nationally important source of data for the purpose of monitoring performance of health programmes/schemes of Government of India.
The NFHS-5 was conducted during 2019-21 and its Report was released in 2022. The sixth round of NFHS was initiated timely with International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) as the nodal agency. The fieldwork for NFHS-6 was carried out in two phases across all States/UTs, except Manipur due to administrative reasons, and has been completed.
The Ministry ensures a timely dissemination of NFHS data by conducting regular follow-ups with the nodal agency and regular meetings at higher levels to monitor progress and oversee intermediary steps.
For ensuring transparent dissemination, data of NFHS in Factsheets and Reports is usually released. *******