Table 3.

Prevalence of Caesarean section delivery by selected explanatory variables at the all-India level

India	NFHS-4		NFHS-5
	(2015-16)		(2019-21)
Variable	%	p-value	%	p-value
Caste		< 0.001		< 0.001
Scheduled Castes	16.4		21.2
Scheduled Tribes	9.6		12.8
Other Backward Castes	19.2		24.5
Others	25.6		31.1
Religion		< 0.001		< 0.001
Hindu	19.4		24.0
Muslims	17.0		21.9
Others	23.8		31.4
Type of residence		< 0.001		< 0.001
Urban	30.4		34.7
Rural	14.5		19.8
Woman’s education level		< 0.001		< 0.001
Illiterate	6.9		9.1
Primary	12.6		14.5
Secondary	23.1		25.7
Higher	39.8		42.2
Age at marriage		< 0.001		< 0.001
Below 18 years	12.3		16.0
18 years or above	23.4		27.9
Exposure to media		< 0.001		< 0.001
Nil	5.8		11.2
Partial	22.8		28.1
Full	30.6		34.5
Number of ANC visits		< 0.001		< 0.001
0	7.1		15.9
1–3	12.1		16.8
4+	27.7		29.2
Woman’s age		< 0.001		< 0.001
15–24	18.3		21.1
25–34	20.2		25.3
35–49	16.9		25.7
Size of child at birth		< 0.001		< 0.001
Average	18.4		23.5
Small	17.1		24.4
Large	24.2		26.4
Woman’s BMI		< 0.001		< 0.001
Underweight	11.1		15.1
Normal	20.3		24.3
Overweight	47.1		50.0
Pregnancy Complications		< 0.001		< 0.001
No	18.3		22.4
Present	20.5		26.4
Ever had a terminated pregnancy		< 0.001		< 0.001
No	18.7		23.3
Yes	22.3		27.6
Birth order		< 0.001		< 0.001
1	27.5		32.0
2	21.9		27.0
3	11.0		14.4
4+	4.2		6.5
Wealth quintile		< 0.001		< 0.001
Poor	7.9		12.7
Non-poor	28.3		32.8
Place of delivery		< 0.001		< 0.001
Public	13.2		16.1
Private	43.1		49.7