Stunting in Children
The report highlights that India contains around 40 million of world’s stunted children under five years and also contains nearly 50% of world’s wasted children. Despite these high rates, a 2013-2014 report by the government and UNICEF found that stunting had fallen from 48 % in 2005-2006 to 39% in 2014 which is double the rate of decline compared with the period 1999-2006. At the state level, stunting declined evenly across all states, however, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh are of concern because of already high levels of stunting and lower rates of decline when compared to other states.
Wasting in Children
When it comes to wasting of children, while most states show a decline, not all states do. Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Goa and Mizoram show an increase in wasting, with the increase in first two states being marginal. However, wasting rates vary with the season even more than stunting rates do.
Breastfeeding Rates
The breastfeeding rate has increased all across the country from 34 to 62%.In 2005–2006 only four states had rates of 60% or higher and now all 28 states have managed to achieve that rate. Another important and positive finding of the report is the fact that, states with the lowest rates in 2005–2006 have achieved rates in the 60–70% range. Bihar, the worst ranked state in 2005–2006, quadrupled its rate of exclusive breastfeeding and is now ranked above 16 other states.
