ArticleBMJ nutrition, prevention & health2023
Trends in the prevalence and social determinants of stunting in India, 2005-2021: findings from three rounds of the National Family Health Survey.
Article in BMJ nutrition, prevention & health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Inequality in Childhood Anaemia Among Indian Hindus (2006-2021): A Comparison of Scheduled Castes and Tribes with Upper Castes.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Spatial heterogeneity and co-occurrence of childhood undernutrition in India: a joint analysis of stunting, anaemia and low birthweight.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Article
- Updated Kuppuswamy Socioeconomic Status Scale for the Year 2026.Indian journal of community medicine : official publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine · 2026Article
- Biofortification as a sustainable strategy to address micronutrient malnutrition in South Asia.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2025Review
- Progress in child nutrition outcomes: insights from India's recent experience.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Socioeconomic inequality in child health outcomes in India: analyzing trends between 1993 and 2021.International journal for equity in health · 2024Article
- Maternal knowledge on nutritional-focused nurturing care and associated factors among women with stunted children aged 6-23 months in Yogyakarta, Indonesia: A cross-sectional study.Belitung nursing journal · 2024Article
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7 authors.
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Abstract
Objectives: To assess social determinants of stunting and the shifts in contributions of socio-demographic factors to national prevalence trends in India between 2005 and 2021. Methods: We leveraged data from three rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3: 2005-2006, NFHS-4: 2015-2016, NFHS-5: 2019-2021) for 443 038 children under 5 years. Adjusted logistic regression models and a Kitigawa-Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition were deployed to examine how wealth, residence, belonging to a marginalised social group, maternal education and child sex contributed to changes in stunting prevalence. Results: The decrease in stunting prevalence was notably slower between NFHS-4 and NFHS-5 (annual average rate of reduction (AARR): 1.33%) than between NFHS-3 and NFHS-4 (AARR: 2.20%). The protective effect of high wealth diminished from 2015 onwards but persisted for high maternal education. However, an intersection of higher household wealth and maternal education mitigated stunting to a greater extent than either factor in isolation. Residence only predicted stunting in 2005-2006 with an urban disadvantage (adjusted OR: 1.18; 95% CI: 1.07 to 1.29). Children from marginalised social groups displayed increased likelihoods of stunting, from 6-16% in 2005-2006 to 11-21% in 2015-2016 and 2020-2021. Being male was associated with 6% and 7% increased odds of stunting in 2015-2016 and 2019-2021, respectively. Increased household wealth (45%) and maternal education (14%) contributed to decreased stunting prevalence between 2005 and 2021. Conclusions: Stunting prevalence in India has decreased across social groups. However, social disparities in stunting persist and are exacerbated by intersections of low household wealth, maternal education and being from a marginalised social group. Increased survival must be accompanied by needs-based interventions to support children and mitigate mutually reinforcing sources of inequality.
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