The National Family Health Survey-6 (NFHS-6) is the sixth round of a large-scale, multi-round household survey that functions as a concept and mechanism for collecting comprehensive data on population, health, and nutrition across India. The NFHS series originated with NFHS-1 in 1992-93 as India's first Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) linked survey, designed to generate nationally comparable data to support evidence-based policymaking and evaluate family welfare programmes.
NFHS-6 was conducted during 2023-24, covering 6,79,238 households across all States and Union Territories, with the aim of providing national and district-level estimates on indicators like fertility, mortality, and family welfare. The survey is conducted under the stewardship of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), with the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, designated as the nodal agency. A significant change in NFHS-6 is that, for the first time since the survey's inception, the IIPS independently coordinated all survey activities, and the funding was provided solely by the Government of India, marking a shift from previous rounds that received technical assistance from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The mechanism of NFHS-6 involved using an entirely digital mode for data collection through Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) software, which includes built-in provisions for real-time error detection and data scrutiny. Compared to the previous round, NFHS-5 (2019-21), NFHS-6 saw the removal of questions on disability and biomarker data for anaemia, waist-hip ratio, and waist circumference due to measurement concerns and methodological debates. The data generated by NFHS is critical for monitoring the reach and impact of government initiatives and is connected to global concepts like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as NFHS data helps track progress on various health and development indicators.