Muslim institutional deliveries have surged from under a third of births in 1998 to 84.3% in 2019-21, one of the fastest gains on the dashboard. Hindus are at 89.5% and the national average 88.6%, so a gap remains, but most Muslim births now happen in a hospital or clinic rather than at home.
How to read the chart
The chart tracks the share of births in a health facility for each community across four National Family Health Surveys from 1998 to 2019-21; rising is better, and every line climbs steeply. The distance between Muslims and the better-served communities is the point, so the vertical axis does not start at zero.
Why it matters
A trained attendant and emergency care at birth are the single biggest protection against a mother or newborn dying. The shift from home to facility birth is the main reason maternal and newborn deaths have fallen so fast.
Status
Behindgap widening
Muslim 84.3% vs Hindu 89.5% in 2020, 5.2pp behind. The gap with Hindus widened during the mid-2000s, as better-off communities scaled up first, then began closing again after 2015 as cash incentives like Janani Suraksha Yojana reached further.
Deeper analysis
Potential drivers
Access · Fewer and more crowded facilities in poor and Muslim-concentrated pockets leave some births still at home ↗ Sachar Committee Report, 2006.
Cost · The indirect costs of reaching and staying at a facility weigh most on poorer households ↗ NFHS-5 India report, 2019-21.
Awareness and trust · Late or no antenatal contact, and unease with unfamiliar institutions, delay the move to a facility birth ↗ NFHS-5 India report, 2019-21.
Key levers
Cash incentives · Janani Suraksha Yojana pays poorer mothers to deliver in a facility and drove much of the catch-up ↗ NFHS-5 India report, 2019-21.
Local facilities · More and better-staffed centres in under-served Muslim areas close the remaining gap ↗ Sachar Committee Report, 2006.
Antenatal contact · Early, regular check-ups are the bridge that turns into a facility birth ↗ NFHS-5 India report, 2019-21.
Key stakeholders
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare: The Union ministry responsible for India's health policy and its family-planning, maternal-health and child-health programmes.
National Health Mission: The Government of India's flagship health programme, working toward affordable, quality care including maternal, newborn and child health services across rural and urban India.
Aga Khan Health Services, India: The Aga Khan network's Indian health arm, running maternal and child health services including a maternal and child care centre in Hyderabad and rural reproductive, child-health and nutrition work. Founded by the Ismaili community, it serves all communities.
SEWA RuralCredibility Alliance accredited ↗: A voluntary organisation in tribal south Gujarat whose Kasturba Hospital and community programmes deliver maternal and newborn care, with large reported falls in maternal and neonatal deaths in its area. Donate ↗
Doctors For YouGiveIndia vetted ↗: A humanitarian health NGO providing rural maternal and child health, treatment of severe acute malnutrition and disaster medical care across several states. Donate ↗
Jhpiego India: A Johns Hopkins-affiliated non-profit that strengthens maternal and newborn care in India by training frontline health workers and supporting government programmes. Donate ↗
UNICEF India: The UN Children's Fund's India office, working with states on child survival, immunisation and maternal and newborn health.
International Institute for Population Sciences: The Mumbai institute that conducts the National Family Health Survey, the source of India's infant-mortality and maternal and child health figures by population group.
Badges link to an independent or registered credential where the organisation publishes one (Credibility Alliance, GiveIndia, 80G, FCRA). Many smaller NGOs do not take part in these registries, so a missing badge is not a mark against an organisation.
About this measurement
Definition. Percentage of live births in the years preceding each survey round that took place in a health facility (public or private), among women age 15-49.
Methodology. Time series across four NFHS rounds: NFHS-2 (1998-99), NFHS-3 (2005-06), NFHS-4 (2015-16) and NFHS-5 (2019-21); years 1998/2005/2015/2020 are the round labels. For NFHS-5, Table 8.13 (page 324); the "all" value is a sample-size-weighted average of the 7 religion rates (the published Total row was hard to extract cleanly from the dual-column PDF layout) and matches NFHS-5's published 88.6% within rounding. Earlier rounds come from each report's facility-delivery religion table; every canonical row's methodology_note records its exact source.