Table 1.

Sample representation from NFHS-3 to NFHS-5 for children under 5 years

	NFHS-3 (2005–2006) children under 5 years (% of total sample)	NFHS-4 (2015–2016) children under 5 years (% of total sample)	NFHS-5 (2019–2021) children under 5 years (% of total sample)
Total pre-analytic sample (513 855)	48 084 (9.36)	244 508 (47.6)	221 263 (43.1)
	Sample of NFHS round (%)	Sample of NFHS round (%)	Sample of NFHS round (%)
Number of flagged observations for the stunting outcome variable	6778 (14.1)	19 506 (7.98)	15 238 (6.89)
Sample size after omitting flagged observations of stunting (471 333)	41 306 (85.9)	225 002 (92.0)	206 025 (93.1)
Number of flagged and missing observations for the selected predictor and control variables	2310 (4.8)	13 273 (5.4)	13 711 (6.20)
Total number of omitted observations	9088 (19.0)	32 779 (13.4)	28 949 (13.1)
Final analytic sample size (443 039)	38 996 (81.0)	211 729 (86.6)	192 314 (87.0)

Flagged observations are data points that have been excluded because they do not correspond to any observable value for the variable being studied. Missing observations are data points that have not been reported or are unavailable.

NFHS, National Family Health Survey.