India has seen a significant change in lifestyles since the pandemic. Spending more time indoors, reduced physical activity, and poor eating habits have had a profound impact on health. The latest report from the National Family Health Survey-6 has presented a picture that has raised concerns among health experts. According to the report, cases of obesity and high blood sugar are rapidly increasing in the country, which could become a major cause of serious diseases like diabetes in the future.
The NFHS-6 survey, released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, was conducted during 2023-24. It covered approximately 6.79 lakh families in 715 districts across all states and union territories, except Manipur. The report provides information on several key indicators related to health, nutrition, and population.
According to the NFHS-6 report, the prevalence of diabetes among people over 15 years of age in the country is 2.5%. Diabetes is rapidly increasing. The survey included people whose blood sugar level was above 141 mg/dl or who were regularly taking medication to control it. The report shows that cases of this disease have increased by about 5 percent in the last few years. Regarding men, there are approximately 560 million men over the age of 15 in the country. Of these, approximately 117 million men are affected by diabetes. In 2021, this number was approximately 87 million. While 15.6 percent of men suffered from this disease in NFHS-5, this figure has now increased to 20.9 percent. The situation remains worrying among women as well. Currently, approximately 71.2 million women in the country suffer from diabetes, compared to approximately 54 million three years ago. The diabetes rate among women has increased from 13.5 percent to 17.8 percent, representing a significant increase of 4.3 percent.
According to the report, there has been a significant increase in the prevalence of obesity and overweight among women aged 15 to 49 years. While 24 percent of women were overweight or obese in 2019-21, this figure increased to 30.7 percent in 2023-24. The situation is even more worrying in urban areas, where 42.8 percent of women are overweight or obese, compared to 25.5 percent in rural areas. A similar trend was observed among men. In 2019-21, 22.9 percent of men were overweight or obese, which increased to 27.3 percent in 2023-24. In rural areas, 23 percent of men were overweight or obese, while in urban areas, 36.3 percent of men were found to be overweight or obese.