TL;DR Non-communicable disease risk factors increasingly shape India’s health profile. NFHS-6 shows that the incidence of overweight or obesity and elevated blood sugar has increased among both men and women compared to NFHS-5, while elevated hypertension has declined slightly. Southern states continue to report the highest prevalence for most indicators, although several other states have also witnessed rapid increases, pointing to a widening burden across the country.

Context

India’s health profile has changed considerably over the past few decades. While infectious diseases and undernutrition remain important public health concerns, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and stroke have emerged as leading causes of illness and death. Many of these conditions are associated with risk factors such as overweight and obesity, hypertension, and elevated blood sugar levels, which often develop gradually and may remain undetected until complications arise.

Understanding the prevalence and distribution of these risk factors is crucial for assessing the country’s evolving health challenges and informing preventive interventions. Using data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), this story examines the prevalence of overweight and obesity, hypertension, and high blood sugar among Indian adults, highlighting patterns across states, sex, age groups, and place of residence.

Who compiles this data?
The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) is conducted under the stewardship of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, with the survey reports and datasets published by the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS).

Where can I download clean & structured data related to this?

Access clean, standardised, and analysis-ready collection of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) related datasets on Dataful. Explore data across national, state, and district levels, with historical survey rounds included for seamless comparison and trend analysis. 

Key Insights

• The share of adults classified as overweight or obese (BMI ≥25 kg/m²) increased across genders between NFHS-5 and NFHS-6. Among men, it rose from 22.9% to 27.3%, while among women it increased from 24.0% to 30.7%. Women recorded both a higher prevalence and a steeper increase.

• The proportion of adults with high or very high blood sugar levels (>140 mg/dl) or taking medication increased by about 5 percentage points for both genders. By NFHS-6, 20.9% of men and 17.8% of women met the survey criteria.

• Urban India continued to report a higher prevalence of overweight/obesity and elevated blood sugar. However, rural areas also witnessed marked increases. For instance, overweight or obesity among rural women rose from 19.7% to 25.5%, while elevated blood sugar among rural men increased from 14.5% to 19.7%.

• Notably, unlike obesity and elevated blood sugar, the prevalence of elevated blood pressure or taking medication for blood pressure declined slightly between the two survey rounds.

• Southern states continued to record the highest prevalence of overweight or obesity among both men and women. Andhra Pradesh emerged as the highest, among the major states, with nearly half of all women and over two-fifths of men classified as overweight or obese in NFHS-6.

• Women recorded a higher prevalence than men across most of the states. The gender gap was particularly pronounced in states such as Kerala, Karnataka, and West Bengal.

• The prevalence increased across both genders in almost all the states between NFHS-5 and NFHS-6. Some of the sharpest increases were observed in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, and Gujarat. Delhi was the notable exception among men, where the prevalence declined from 38.0% to 34.8%, even as it remained among the states with the highest prevalence.

• The prevalence of elevated blood pressure or taking medication to control blood pressure among men was more than that among women. The gap was particularly noticeable in Delhi and Haryana, while only a few states, such as Punjab, showed relatively similar prevalence across genders.

• The highest prevalence was concentrated in southern states and Delhi. Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana recorded the highest shares of men meeting the survey criteria for elevated hypertension, while Karnataka topped the list among women. In contrast, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh consistently reported the lowest prevalence for both sexes.

• Similar to overweight/obesity and hypertension, southern states continued to record the highest prevalence of elevated blood sugar. In Kerala, nearly one in three men (31.9%) and almost three in ten women (28.9%) met the survey criteria for high or very high blood sugar or were taking medication for it. Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana also featured among the states with the highest prevalence.

• The prevalence increased across most major states between NFHS-5 and NFHS-6. Some of the sharpest increases were observed in Karnataka, where the prevalence among men rose from 15.6% to 26.1%, and Odisha, where it increased from 17.0% to 26.6% among men and 14.0% to 21.7% among women. Similar upward trends were recorded in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, indicating that the burden is no longer confined to traditionally high-prevalence states.

• Men generally recorded a higher prevalence of elevated blood sugar than women across the major states. The gender gap was most pronounced in Telangana and Odisha (about 5 percentage points each), followed by West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

Why does it matter?

The rising prevalence of overweight or obesity and elevated blood sugar is significant because these are among the major modifiable risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), particularly cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. NCDs account for more than 60% of all deaths in India, with cardiovascular diseases alone contributing about 27% of all deaths, making them the country’s leading cause of mortality, according to WHO.

The findings suggest that these risk factors are becoming more widespread across states and are increasingly affecting rural populations in addition to urban areas, underscoring the importance of sustained efforts to promote healthier lifestyles, encourage early screening, and ensure timely management of hypertension and diabetes before complications develop. The Government of India has been implementing the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD, formerly NPCDCS), which focuses on health promotion, population-based screening, early diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up for common NCDs. As these risk factors continue to rise, strengthening such preventive and primary healthcare interventions will be critical to reducing India’s future burden of chronic diseases.

Key Numbers

• 24.0% → 30.7% Women overweight/obese

• 15.6% → 20.9% Men with elevated blood sugar

• 24.0% → 22.1% ↓ Men with elevated hypertension

• 21.3% → 19.4% ↓ Women with elevated hypertension

• 47.9% Andhra Pradesh women overweight/obese

• 31.9% Kerala men with elevated blood sugar