Lifestyle diseases surge in India, infectious ailments fall: Survey

NEW DELHI: Nearly half the population in India has reported cardiovascular and metabolic ailments such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and thyroid, compared with 31% a decade ago.

The latest pan-India survey by the National Statistics Office showed that in 2025, 25.6% of those surveyed reported cardiovascular ailments, compared to 16.7% during July 2017 to June 2018.

Similarly, in the 15 days preceding the survey, 24.2% reported metabolic and endocrine ailments, against 15% in 2017-18. These non-communicable diseases are particularly higher in people over 45, indicating that these are related to lifestyle. In contrast, 15% people reported experiencing infections, including ailments such as fever, jaundice and diarrhoea in 2025, down from 32% in 2017-18. Infections, however, still accounted for more than half of all ailments in children up to the age of 14.

In 2025, 13% reported being ill in last 15 days, a rise from 7.5% during last survey in 2017-18

Data from the nationwide survey, which covered nearly 1.4 lakh households, also showed that the share of Indians who reported being ill in the last 15 days has nearly doubled, and the out-ofpocket expenditure in case of hospitalisation has increased nearly 70%, underlining the everyday health burden faced by millions in the country.

In 2025, one in eight Indians (13.1%) reported being ill in the last 15 days — up from 7.5% in the previous survey period.

More women reported falling ill (14.4%) than their male counterparts (11.8%), a trend that has sustained since the last survey.

Illness rises sharply with age, as 43.9% of those aged 60 and above reported experiencing illness in the past 15 days (27.7% in 2017-18), while 22.5% reported experiencing illness in the 45–59 age group (11.4% in 2017-18).

Although hospitalisation rates remain relatively moderate at 2.9 cases per 100 persons annually, with urban areas (3.2%) reporting slightly higher rates than rural areas (2.7%), treatment costs continue to weigh heavily on households.

The average out-of-pocket expenditure per hospitalisation stands at Rs 34,064, from Rs 20,135 in the 2017-18 period.

Significantly, the survey showed that govt-sponsored health insurance coverage in India has expanded sharply in the past decade, as it now covers about 47% of the rural population and 44% in urban areas, up from 14% and 19% respectively in 2017-18.
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