Profile of Youth in India

Analysis of NFHS-3 Data

NFHS-3, India

 Youth in India constitutes one-fifth

of total population.

The youth population has an

important
role to play as potential
demographic dividend by constituting
skilled stock of human capital.
The youth population also has an
important
role in demographic
evolution.
NFHS-3, India

National Youth Policy-2003

The commitment of the entire nation to
the composite and all round development
of the young sons and daughters of India
and seeks to establish an All-India
perspective to fulfill their legitimate
aspirations so that they are all strong of
heart and strong of body and mind in
successfully accomplishing the
challenging task of national reconstruction
and social changes that lie ahead.
NFHS-3, India

Contents of Presentation
Profile of youth
Knowledge about selected health related

issues
Attitudes towards selected population,

health and gender concerns

Behaviour of youth in health related spheres
Health and nutritional profile of youth
NFHS-3, India

Profile of Youth
Education
Mass media exposure
Employment
Marriage

NFHS-3, India

UNFPA definition of youth, population

- age 15-24 - is adopted for this report
NFHS-3 interviewed 47,590 women and
24,997 men age 15-24:
Agegroup

Women

Men

15-19
20-24
15-24

24,811
22,779
47,590

13,008
11,989
24,997

31% of women and 38% of men are from urban

areas
37% of women and 32% of men are from the
two lowest wealth quintiles
NFHS-3, India

Literacy Rates Among Youth

Agegroup
15-19
20-24
15-24
25-49

Wome
n
74
64
69
46

Men
89
84
86
73

Literacy rate among women

Age 15-77% , age 24 - 63%

Urban 86%, rural 62%
Never married 84%, ever married 55%
Poorest HHs 33%, richest HHs 97%

NFHS-3, India

Education Among Youth

Completed years of
education
No education
< 5 years complete
5-7 years complete
8-9 years complete
10-11 years complete
12+ years complete
Total

Women
(%)
26
7
18
20
15
14
100

Men (%)
10
8
18
27
19
19
100

29% of women (47% of urban and 20% of

rural) have 10+ years of schooling.
38% of men (49% of urban and 31% of rural)
have 10+ years of schooling.
NFHS-3, India

School Enrollment Among Youth

School attendance rate at
age 15-17
Women

Men

39
30
13

73
68

44

54
45

28
20

Poorest Poorer

Middle Richer Richest

34% of women
and 49% of men
age
15-17 attended
school in the
year 2004-05.

Most youth are exposed to some form of media

70% of women and 88% of men have at
least weekly exposure to television,
radio, or newspapers/magazines.
Majority of women with no education
and women in rural areas are not
regularly exposed to any media.

NFHS-3, India

Employment among Youth

Women

Men

43

49

33
33
31

35

15

16

17

Percent

63

65

34

33

18

19

78

79

34

33

20

21

87

89

92

34

36

36

22

23

24

NFHS-3, India

Many youth are economically active.

36% of women and 67% of men age 15-24
are employed.
Almost all men with no education and ever
married men are employed.
The majority of employed women are
agricultural workers; whereas, there is
greater diversity in male employment.
Less than two-thirds of employed women
(63%) earn cash for their work, compared
with 88 percent of employed men.
NFHS-3, India

Percentage of Married Youth by Age

Figures in white indicate
percentage married excluding
gauna not performed

Women
63
53 62

70
69

75
75

80
80

Figures in yellow indicate percentage

married including gauna not performed

86
86

Men
51
50

42 52
26 40
18
12 14 23
8

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

20
18
8
5

27
26

40
39
36
34

9
7

2
2 2 3
0 0
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

NFHS-3, India

Many youth marry below legal age at marriage

Half of women and about one in five men
age 15-24 are married.
19% of women age 15-17 and 7% of men
age 15-20 are married.
In Bihar (38%), Jharkhand (36%),
Rajasthan (31%), and West Bengal (26%)
more than one-fourth of women age 1517 are arried, though many of them have
not started living with husband.

NFHS-3, India

Many youth are heading households

One percent of women and 8% of men
age 15-24 are household heads.
29% of currently married men age 15-24
are heading their own households.
Youth in households headed by youth
are poorer than youth in households
headed by someone who is older.
NFHS-3, India

Knowledge of Youth of Selected Family Planning and Health

Issues

Knowledge of family planning

methods
Awareness of AIDS
Knowledge of HIV/AIDS

NFHS-3, India

Most youth have heard of available modern contraceptive spacing methods

93% of women know of female sterilization,

but only 83 percent know about pills and 71
percent each know about IUDs and condoms.
93% of men know about condoms, but only
78 percent know about pills and 37 percent
know about the IUD.
Only 8% of women and 15% of men know
about emergency contraception.
NFHS-3, India

A majority of youth lack comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS

About two-thirds of women and 88 percent of

men have heard of AIDS .
Three out of four men know that the risk of
HIV/AIDS can be reduced by condom use or by
limiting sex to one uninfected partner; however,
less than half of women know about these ways
of HIV/AIDS prevention.
Only 20 percent of women and 36 percent of
men have comprehensive knowledge about
HIV/AIDS.
In many states, less than one-half of women
have heard of AIDS.
NFHS-3, India

In high HIV prevalence states many youth are not aware of

AIDS.

In two high HIV prevalence states of

Manipur and Tamil Nadu, almost all young

women and men are aware of AIDS.
In the remaining four high prevalence
states of Maharashtra, Nagaland, Andhra
Pradesh and Karnataka less than 76-86
percent of women but 90-95 percent men
know of AIDS.
NFHS-3, India

Youths Attitudes toward Selected Population, Health and Gender

Concerns

Family size preference

Family life education

Gender role attitudes

NFHS-3, India

Family Size Preferences

Percent distribution of women and men by ideal number of
children

Women

Men

5 3 1 11
15

5 2 2 11
13

3
4+

4+

65
nonnume
ric

67

Nonnumer
ic

NFHS-3, India

Youths attitude toward gender roles is, in general, no more egalitarian than the attitude of the older cohort age 25-49

More than half of youth (53% of women

and 56% of men) agree that it is justified for
a husband to beat his wife under specific
circumstances.
About two-thirds of youth (64% of women
and 68% of men) believe that a woman is
justified in refusing to have sex with her
husband for specific reasons.
NFHS-3, India

Behaviour of Youth in Health related Spheres

Initiation of fertility
Family planning use and unmet need
Sexual behaviour
Consumption of tobacco and alcohol

NFHS-3, India

Initiation of childbearing
Percentage of women who have begun childbearing by age

49

59

68

73

81

36
24
3

13

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Age
NFHS-3, India

Early childbearing is the main feature of Indias fertility pattern

According to current fertility schedule, by

the time a woman in India reaches age 25,
she already has on an average 1.5 children.
More than half of total fertility is realized
by the time women reaches age 25.
In all the states except Goa, by the time
women reach age 25, they already have on
an average at least one child.

NFHS-3, India

Trend in Contraceptive Prevalence Rate

Percentage of currently married
women

33
28

26
21

20
16

13
7

15-19 years

20-24 years
NFHS-1

NFHS-2

15-24 years
NFHS-3
NFHS-3, India

Family Planning Method Choice of Youth

Among the teenagers, the methods most often used

are rhythm (4%), condom (3%), and withdrawal and

pill (2% each).
One percent of teenagers have already undergone
sterilization.
Among the age group 20-24, female sterilization is
the preferred method. 13% of women age 20-24 are
sterilized.
Among women age 20-24 also, 7 percent of women
have chosen traditional methods, though condom
(6%) and pill (4%) are also used by a sizeable
proportion.
NFHS-3, India

Pattern of contraceptive use by youth reveals son preference

Percentage of currently married women with

two children using contraception

58
50

50

Both sons

43

One son, one

daughter

31
24

Any method

Both
daughters

Sterilization

NFHS-3, India

Youth in India has a large unmet need for family planning.

27% of teenage women and 21% of women age

20-24 have unmet need for family planning.
25% of teenage women and 15% of women age
20-24 have unmet need for spacing.
There has been is only a small decrease in the
unmet need for family planning since NFHS-2.

NFHS-3, India

Early marriage leads to early initiation of sexual activity among women

51% of women and 27% of men age 1524 have ever had sexual intercourse.
One in every 10 women and 2% of men
had sexual intercourse before age 15
years.
Among never married youth, 12% of
men and less than 1% of women report
ever having had sexual intercourse.
NFHS-3, India

There is evidence of higher-risk sex among male youth unprotected by condom use.

Among youth who have ever had sexual intercourse, men on average have had 1.8 partners, and
women have had slightly more than one partner.
Among the 22% of men who had sexual intercourse
in the 12 months prior to the survey, a little more
than one-quarter had higher-risk intercourse, i.e.,
they had intercourse with a partner who was neither
a spouse nor lived with them.
Among men who had higher-risk sexual intercourse,
a little more than one-third used a condom at last
higher-risk intercourse.
NFHS-3, India

Tobacco use and alcohol consumption are matters of concern.

40% of men use tobacco in some form, including

19% who smoke cigarettes/bidis and 30 percent who
consume paan masala, gutkha, or other tobacco
products.
5% of female youth report tobacco use, mainly in
the form of chewing tobacco.
One-fifth of young men and 1 percent of young
women age 15-24 consume alcohol.
Tobacco and alcohol consumption begin early: Even
among men who are only 15 years of age, 16
percent use some form of tobacco and 6 percent
consume alcohol.
NFHS-3, India

Tobacco use and alcohol consumption among men begin early

Smoke

Use Tobacco

Drinks Alcohol

Percentage
50
39

16

23

9
8

6
15

16

17

54

57

31

32

32

29

28

31

22

23

24

48

38

28
9
12

56

15
17

18

18

19

18

24

28

23

25

20

21

Age
NFHS-3, India

Health and Nutritional Profile of Youth

Prevalence of sexually transmitted

infections
Prevalence of HIV
Nutritional status

Anaemia

Domestic violence
NFHS-3, India

Prevalence of Sexually Transmitted

Infections (STIs) and STI Symptoms
Percentage of women and men who ever had sexual
intercourse reporting having an STI and/or symptoms of
STI in the past 12 months
11
11
11
11

Women

15-19
20-24
25-49

Men
NFHS-3, India

Prevalence of STIs and STI symptoms

is higher among never married men.
13
12
11

11
9

7
6

Rural

Total

15-19

20-24

Urban

Never married
Ever married

NFHS-3, India

HIV Prevalence Among Youth

Wom
en
Age
15-19
20-24
Residenc
e
Urban
Rural
Total

Men

Total

0.07
0.17

%
0.01
0.19

0.04
0.18

0.16
0.09

0.11
0.08

0.14
0.09

0.11 0.09 0.10

NFHS-3, India

HIV Prevalence Among Youth in

High HIV States
0.48

Percentage
0.31

0.35
0.29

0.18

0.33

0.14

0.39
0.38

Women
Men

NFHS-3, India

Nutritional Status of Youth

51

2
18

40
53

60
60

52

47

13

58
41

31

36

Overweight/obese
Normal
Total thin

27

15-19 20-24 25-49 15-19 20-24 25-49

Women

Me
n

NFHS-3, India

Anaemia Among Youth

56%

57
% 2

15

17

56%

Severe

Moderate

Mild

15

30%
1
39

38

39

12

17
15-19

20-24

Women

25-49

15-19

19%

24%
1

1
7

10

11

13

20-24

25-49

Men

NFHS-3, India

The high prevalence of spousal violence is a continuing hurdle to the achievement of health goals and gender equality

More than one in three married female

youth (37%) have experienced physical,
sexual, or emotional violence by their
husband.
Seven percent of all female youth and 11
percent of married female youth have
experienced sexual violence.
NFHS-3, India

Concluding Remarks

To fully exploit the demographic dividend, Indias youth

need to be healthy, educated, skilled and forward
looking. However, the report points out a few weak areas.
A sizeable proportion lacks education, even literacy
Early marriage
Burdened with childbearing and rearing
Large unmet need for family planning
Poor nutritional status
Substance abuse
In knowledge, attitude and behaviour youth is not very
different from the older counterpart.

NFHS-3, India

Concluding Remarks
In knowledge, attitude and behaviour
use is not very different from the
older counterpart.

NFHS-3, India

Thank You
NFHS-3, India