WEST BENGAL

West Bengal, situated in the north-east of India, accounts for 2.6 percent of the country’s area and includes 23 districts (Government of West Bengal 2017). The state is home to over 91 million people (7.54 percent of the population of India), of which 76.26 percent are literate. West Bengal has a sex ratio of 950 females per 1,000 males (Census of India 2011).

Our knowledge products related to West Bengal include the following:

• 2022: Read our State Nutrition Profile for West Bengal (NFHS-3 (2005-2006), 4(2015-16) & 5 (2019-2020), a that describes the trends for a set of key nutrition and health outcomes, determinants, and coverage of interventions from 2006 to 2020. The findings are based on estimates from unit-level data and/or data from national and state reports for NFHS-3 (2005-2006) and NFHS-4 (2015-2016), and data from state factsheets and reports for NFHS-5 (2019-2021). In addition to standard prevalence-based analyses, this State Nutrition Profile includes headcount-based analyses aligned to POSHAN Abhiyaan’s goals.
• 2018: For deeper insights into the coverage of key nutrition and health interventions in the state, with district-wise status, read our Data Note that describes the coverage of a set of key nutrition and health interventions and highlights the key areas of action to improve nutrition in West Bengal.
• 2017: A Policy Note to examine the trends in undernutrition in West Bengal, regional variability in the major determinants of nutrition and the coverage of key nutrition and health interventions.

For a deeper view of malnutrition and its multiple determinants in West Bengal’s districts, please access District Nutrition Profiles (DNPs) for each district below.