More than half of Muslim women aged 15 to 49, 55.6%, were anaemic in 2019-21, marginally better than Hindu women at 57.4% and the national 57.0%. The small Muslim edge is real and long-standing, but the headline is grim for everyone: anaemia is extremely common across all communities and has risen since the last survey.
How to read the chart
The chart tracks the share of women who are anaemic across four National Family Health Surveys; lower is better, but notice how little the lines separate and how most tick upward after 2015. The Muslim line sits just below the Hindu one throughout.
Why it matters
Anaemia saps energy and learning, raises the risk of death in childbirth, and passes low iron to the next child. At over half of all women, it is one of India's largest and most stubborn public-health failures.
Status
Aheadgap narrowing
Muslim 55.6% vs Hindu 57.4% in 2020, 1.8pp ahead. The Muslim advantage is small and, like every community's, moving the wrong way: anaemia rose between 2015 and 2019-21 despite a national supplementation programme.
Deeper analysis
Potential drivers
Diet · The main reason Muslim women fare slightly better is more frequent iron-rich non-vegetarian food, which the National Family Health Survey records as higher among Muslims ↗ NFHS-5 India report, 2019-21.
A small edge on a huge problem · The gap between communities is tiny next to the gap between India and the rest of the world: cereal-heavy diets, early and frequent childbearing and poor iron absorption keep every group above half ↗ NFHS-5 India report, 2019-21.
Key levers
Iron and folic acid · Universal supplementation through the Anaemia Mukt Bharat programme is the main instrument, though uptake and absorption stay weak.
Dietary diversity · More iron-rich food, with vitamin C to absorb it, helps every community rather than one.
Spaced pregnancies · Fewer and better-spaced births let a woman's iron stores recover.
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 women age 15-49 with any anaemia, defined as haemoglobin <12.0 g/dl (non-pregnant) or <11.0 g/dl (pregnant), altitude-adjusted.
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 10.23.1 reports total-residence women's anaemia by religion directly. NFHS changed anaemia measurement between NFHS-4 and NFHS-5 (capillary vs venous blood at the same Hb <12.0 g/dl cut-off), which breaks cross-round comparability, so the three pre-NFHS-5 rounds carry break_flag=true: do not read the 2015 -> 2020 step as a pure trend.