The national family health survey (NFHS) has some shocking revelations for India regarding percentage of teenage girls who are giving birth to babies. Though the national average has fallen over years, it is still significant in real numbers. The highest percent of teenage mothers in 15-19 age group were found to be in Tripura as per the survey.
What is NFHS survey ?
Details about NFHS available in their website is as below :
The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) is a large-scale, multi-round survey conducted in a representative sample of households throughout India. Three rounds of the survey have been conducted since the first survey in 1992-93. The survey provides state and national information for India on fertility, infant and child mortality, the practice of family planning, maternal and child health, reproductive health, nutrition, anaemia, utilization and quality of health and family planning services.
National figures for percentage of mothers in 15-19 age group
In 2005-06 survey, the national figures for percentage of teenage mothers in entire country was 16% (of girls in 15-19 age group) [pdf]. It has fallen down to 7.9% in 2015-16 survey. There is a stark difference between urban and rural areas. For urban areas, only 5% of girls in this age group had been mothers whereas for rural areas the figure was 9.2%
Tripura has the highest percentage of teenage mothers among all states, WB comes second
Tripura has the highest percentage of girls in 15-19 age group who are mothers. The total figure stands at 18.8 %, (approximately 11% higher than the national average). The urban areas recorded 13.3% whereas rural areas recorded 20.7%.
Percentage of girls in 15-19 age group who are already mothers in West Bengal stands at 18.3% [pdf]. The figure for rural WB is 20.6% whereas in urban areas 12.4% of girls of 15-19 age group had been mothers.
Himachal Pradesh and Punjab perform the bests on this count with teenage mothers forming just 2.6% of the age-group, considerably less than the national average.
