India sees rise in both overweight and underweight
Data from India's NFHS-6 survey reveals a concerning trend where both underweight and overweight populations are increasing simultaneously. This shift suggests that nutritional challenges in India are becoming more complex beyond simple lifestyle-related obesity.
Why it matters
Understanding the dual burden of malnutrition is essential for policymakers to design effective public health interventions.
Sedentary lifestyles are often blamed for rising obesity. It is perhaps the most obvious explanation, repeated ad nauseam in this digital age, where often the entire world stays within our six-inch screen. But data from the government's latest pan-India health survey (NFHS-6) suggest something quieter, and potentially more complicated for policymakers. Below-normal BMI has stopped retreating in India even as overweight and obesity rise.The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) is the government's main source of data on health and nutrition, run by the International Institute for Population Sciences for the Union health ministry. Its sixth round, NFHS-6, covered about 6.79 lakh households across 715 districts, with fieldwork running from May 2023 to December 2024.
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