NITI Aayog Health Index 2023 – State-wise List

The NITI Aayog Annual Health Index is an index released by NITI Aayog together with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the World Bank. It was first published in 2017. It is a record that keeps information about the performance of States and Union Territories in the sector of healthcare. NITI Aayog along with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the World Bank started the Annual Health Index in 2017. The fifth edition of the Annual Health Index was recently published by the NITI Aayog for 2020-2021.

What is the NITI Aayog Health Index?

The NITI Aayog Health Index is a record that tracks the achievements of States and Union Territories in the sector of healthcare. It ranks all States and Union Territories based on overall and incremental (year-on-year) performance. This is done to ensure that India adheres to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030.

Aim of the NITI Aayog’s Health Index

The main aim of this Index is to promote a spirit of cooperation and competition among the States and Union Territories. This will help in bringing about transformation to achieve the desired health outcomes.

Participants in the Health Index

In the index, the States are divided into two categories – larger (19) and smaller (8). There is a separate category for Union Territories (8). This ensures comparison among similar entities.

Parameters on which the Health Index is Calculated

The Index is a weighted composite index based on 24 indicators that are grouped into domains and subdomains:

Domain	Subdomain	Description
Health Outcomes	Key Outcomes & Intermediate Outcomes	This include indicators such as Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR), Under 5 Mortality Rate (U5MR), Total Fertility Rate (TFR), Proportion of Low Birth Weight (LBW) among newborns, Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB).
Governance and Information	Health Monitoring , Governance and Data Integrity	This includes indicators such as Proportion of institution deliveries, average occupancy of officers in different posts, Proportion of State Government Health Expenditure to Total State Expenditure.
Key Inputs/ Processes	Health Systems/ Service Delivery	This includes indicators such as Proportion of vacant healthcare provider positions, Level of registration of births, Proportion of functional 24×7 Primary Healthcare Centres , Proportion of District Hospitals.

Division of States and Union Territories in the Health Index

Based on the index, the States are grouped into 3 categories: Aspirants, Achievers and Front runners. Aspirants form the lowest category with a score of below 48, followed by achievers which come under the middle category having a score between 48-62 and the front runners are the states at the top that have scored more than 62.

Highlights of the Fifth Annual Health Index 2020-2021

The Annual Health Index ranks all States and Union Territories according to their performance in achieving healthcare standards. They are ranked among their different categories.

Larger States

• For 2020-2021, the top 3 performers in the larger states category were Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
• The bottom three in the larger states category were Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

Smaller States

• In this category Tripura emerged on top followed by Sikkim and Goa.
• Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur were the bottom three.

Union Territories

• Lakshadweep was ranked the top performer.
• Delhi was ranked the worst performer in this category.

Health Index Released by NITI Aayog

The report is broken down into three sections: union territories, smaller states, and larger states. The weighted composite score that comprises 24 factors that address important facets of health performance is known as the NITI Aayog Health Index.

Presented below is the Health Index released by NITI Aayog:

For Larger States

Rank	Larger States	Base Year(2020-2021) Performance
1	Kerala	77.53
2	Andhra Pradesh	60.84
3	Maharashtra	61.76
4	Gujarat	62.71
5	Punjab	65.83
6	Himachal Pradesh	61.84
7	Jammu and Kashmir	61.02
8	Karnataka	59.39
9	Tamil Nadu	64.05
10	Telangana	56.12
11	Haryana	47.59
12	Chhattisgarh	52.69
13	Jharkhand	48.25
14	Assam	45.84
15	Rajasthan	37.35
16	Uttarakhand	44.61
17	Madhya Pradesh	40.77
18	Odisha	40.19
19	Bihar	39.10
20	Uttar Pradesh	34.44

For Smaller States

Rank	Smaller States	Base Year(2020-2021) Performance
1	Mizoram	73.70
2	Manipur	57.78
3	Meghalaya	56.83
4	Goa	53.13
5	Sikkim	53.20
6	Tripura	43.51
7	Arunachal Pradesh	49.51
8	Nagaland	37.59

For Union Territories

Rank	Union Territories	Base Year(2020-2021) Performance
1	Chandigarh	58.35
2	Dadra and Nagar Haveli	45.41
3	Delhi	59.84
4	Daman and Diu	48.32
5	Lakshadweep	54.58
6	Andaman and Nicobar Islands	55.74
7	Puducherry	35.51

Conclusion

The NITI Aayog Health Index acts as a tool to analyse and evaluate the performance of States and Union Territories in terms of healthcare. This helps in motivating States and Union Territories to better the conditions of health standards. This in turn helps India in achieving its Sustainable Development Goals of 2030.

FAQs on NITI Aayog’s Annual Health Index

Q. What is the 5th edition of the NITI Aayog Health Index?

The NITI Aayog along with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and the World Bank publishes the Annual Health Index. The 5th edition is the latest index tracking the performance of States and Union Territories in the health sector in the Covid years of 2020-2021.

Q. The first Annual State Health Index report was published in which year?

The first Annual State Health Index report was published in 2017 by NITI Aayog along with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and World Bank.

Q. In the latest Health Index, which state has topped in the larger states category?

Kerala has topped the Health Index in the category of larger states followed by Tamil Nadu and Telangana.

Q. Which Union Territories were crowned the best and worst performers in the latest Health Index?

Lakshadweep was ranked the top performer while Delhi was ranked the worst performer in the category of Union Territories.

Q. What are the three categories in which the States are grouped based on their performance?

Based on the composite index, the States are grouped into 3 categories: Aspirants, Achievers and Front runners. Aspirants form the lowest category with a score below 48, followed by achievers which come under the middle category having a score between 48-62 and the front runners are the states at the top that have scored more than 62.