Table 4.
National stunting prevalence (%) across levels of the selected predictors and associated p values derived from one-way ANOVAs for NFHS-3 to NFHS-5
| NFHS-3 (2005–2006) (95% CI) |
NFHS-4 (2015–2016) (95% CI) |
NFHS-5 (2019–2021) (95% CI) |
P values | |
| Wealth quintile | ||||
| Poorest | 56.48 (55.781 to 57.180) | 50.63 (50.259 to 50.991) | 47.77 (47.224 to 48.308) | <0.0001 |
| Poorer | 45.08 (44.021 to 46.137) | 42.92 (42.497 to 43.335) | 42.54 (42.123 to 42.961) | <0.0001 |
| Middle | 38.34 (37.097 to 39.592) | 35.51 (35.057 to 35.966) | 36.72 (36.281 to 37.152) | <0.0001 |
| Richer | 29.07 (27.695 to 30.444) | 28.26 (27.767 to 28.762) | 29.54 (29.108 to 29.979) | 0.0007 |
| Richest | 20.67 (19.325 to 22.016) | 22.56 (22.049 to 23.073) | 23.82 (23.342 to 24.295) | <0.0001 |
| Marginalised social group | ||||
| Scheduled Caste (SC) | 53.99 (52.855 to 55.135) | 43.14 (42.668 to 43.603) | 39.45 (38.993 to 39.915) | <0.0001 |
| Scheduled Tribe (ST) | 53.97 (52.764 to 55.179) | 44.11 (43.644 to 44.567) | 41.16 (40.697 to 41.628) | <0.0001 |
| Other Backward Caste (OBC) | 49.09 (48.257 to 49.931) | 39.01 (38.688 to 39.333) | 35.05 (34.711 to 35.387) | <0.0001 |
| Unreserved caste | 40.85 (39.967 to 41.733) | 31.12 (30.664 to 31.573) | 29.27 (28.785 to 29.765) | <0.0001 |
| Residence | ||||
| Rural | 50.98 (50.370 to 51.584) | 41.53 (41.297 to 41.763) | 37.61 (37.375 to 37.843) | <0.0001 |
| Urban | 39.97 (39.191 to 40.746) | 31.37 (30.978 to 31.765) | 30.39 (29.943 to 30.830) | <0.0001 |
| Maternal education | ||||
| Illiterate | 57.46 (56.707 to 58.216) | 51.08 (50.709 to 51.456) | 46.62 (46.156 to 47.083) | <0.0001 |
| Primary | 48.87 (47.610 to 50.133) | 43.76 (43.225 to 44.298) | 41.89 (41.297 to 42.485) | <0.0001 |
| Secondary | 38.32 (37.559 to 39.084) | 33.07 (32.780 to 33.357) | 33.58 (33.300 to 33.867) | <0.0001 |
| Higher | 19.59 (18.204 to 20.969) | 21.1 (20.544 to 21.648) | 23.11 (22.622 to 23.606) | <0.0001 |
| Sex of the child | ||||
| Female | 48.25 (47.554 to 48.945) | 38.14 (37.849 to 38.426) | 34.86 (34.559 to 35.151) | <0.0001 |
| Male | 48.33 (47.662 to 48.999) | 39.16 (38.881 to 39.442) | 36.52 (36.231 to 36.810) | <0.0001 |
NFHS, National Family Health Survey.