Assessing Multidimensional Nutrition Poverty in India: Insights from a Nationally Representative Survey

Globally, India records the highest rate of child wasting (18.7%) and stunting (35.5%) for 2018–2022. Despite efforts, progress in improving nutrition remains limited, and chronic malnutrition remains a critical challenge. In accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals related to nutrition and health, the study proposes a novel Multidimensional Nutrition Poverty Index (MNPI) to assess nutrition poverty among children under five at the individual level. Using two rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS 4 2014–15: R1 and NFHS 5 2019–21: R2), the Alkire-Foster methodology was applied to estimate the MNPI across the states of India using eight indicators under four dimensions. The findings reveal a decline in multidimensional nutrition poverty from R1 to R2: the Headcount Ratio (H) decreased from 0.72 to 0.63, Intensity (A) from 0.55 to 0.51, and the MNPI from 0.40 to 0.33. At the national, state, and regional levels, in both rounds, poor children are more deprived in the dimensions of adequate diet, antenatal care, and standard of living, with varying magnitude and order. By decomposing the MNPI, Bihar (R1:0.55, R2:0.48) and Jharkhand (R1:0.53, R2:0.42) emerged as the states with the highest MNPI for R1 and R2. A comparison between rural and urban India showed that the MNPI was higher in rural regions (R1: 0.45, R2: 0.36). This study provides robust evidence for guiding state-level policy and identifies critical areas of intervention, highlighting indicators with the most significant contribution to nutrition poverty.