By Newzfirst Bureau8/16/13

New Delhi – The recent information furnished by the Union Government reveals that 44.6% percent children under the age of 5 in Gujarat are malnourished. It also states that 36.3 percent of women between the age-group of 15-49 are malnourished in the state.

The information was given to the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday by Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Krishna Tirath. Gujarat’s name figures out among the few states which are above the national average of 42.5%.

For data on nutrition indicators, Government undertakes surveys such as National Family Health Survey (NFHS) and District Level Household Survey (DLHS) through Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) provides State wise data and the last NFHS survey was in 2005-06.

As per the National Family Health Survey-3 (NFHS-3), 2005-06, 42.5% children under 5 years are underweight and 35.6%  women in the age group of 15-49 years suffer from chronic energy deficiency (CED) (measured as low body mass index) in India .

The other state which recorded poor statistics are- Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh.

Underweight women:

While the national average of underweight women points 35.6%, about 13 states have recorded statistics worse than national average. They are, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

The State wise details of the underweight children and women are given below:

Sl. No.

State

% Underweight children (below 5 yrs of age)

% Underweight Women (age 15 – 49 yrs)

(BMI below normal)

1

Andhra Pradesh

32.5

33.5

2

Assam

36.4

36.5

3

Arunachal Pradesh

32.5

16.4

4Bihar

55.9

45.1
5

Chhattisgarh

47.1

43.4
6

Delhi

26.1

14.8
7Goa

25.0

27.9

8Gujarat

44.6

36.3
9Haryana

39.6

31.3
10

Himachal Pradesh

36.5

29.9
11

J&K

25.6

24.6
12Jharkhand

56.5

43.0
13Karnataka37.635.5
14Kerala22.918.0
15Madhya Pradesh60.041.7
16

Maharashtra

37.036.2
17Manipur22.1

14.8

18Meghalaya48.814.6
19Mizoram19.914.4
20Nagaland25.217.4
21

Orissa

40.741.4
22

Punjab

24.9

18.9

23

Rajasthan

39.9

36.7

24

Sikkim

19.711.2
25

Tamil Nadu

29.828.4
26

Tripura

39.636.9
27

Uttar Pradesh

42.4

36.0
28

Uttrakhand

38.030.0
29

West Bengal

38.739.1

India

42.535.6

 

 

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