59.4% of Indian rural households have no latrines: NSSO survey

December 29, 2013

As per a survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), 59.4% of rural Indian households lack latrine facility. The survey throws light on key indicators of living conditions like drinking water, sanitation, hygiene and housing condition in India.
The survey was done from July 2012 to December 2012 by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).

Key finding of the NSSO Survey:

Access to Drinking Water:

Around 88.5% rural households and 95.3% urban households improved source of drinking water.
Condition in Kerala is poor where 29.5% of rural households have access to safe drinking water whereas in Tamil Nadu it was 94%.
Access to safe drinking water in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are above national average.
In Bihar, 97.6% (rural) and 99.7% (urban) households improved source of drinking water and in Uttar Pradesh with 96.6% and 99.2% of rural and urban households respectively.
85.8% of rural households and 89.6% of urban households had adequate drinking water.
In Nagaland only 16% rural households have sufficient drinking water throughout year.

Sanitation & Housing Condition:

Around 62.3% of rural household and 16.7% of urban households lacked bathroom facility.
59.4% and 8.8% households in rural India and urban India respectively lacked latrine facilities.
Only 31.9% and 63.9% households in rural India and urban India respectively had access to latrine facility for its exclusive use.
38.8% and 89.6% households in rural and urban India respectively were found to have access to improved type of latrine.
80% of rural households and 97.9 percent of urban households had electricity for domestic use.
65.8% of rural households and 93.6% of urban households lived in a house with pucca structure whereas 24.6% of rural households and 5% of urban households lived in a house with semi-pucca structure during 2012.
Only 26.3% and 47.1% households in rural India and urban India respectively had good ventilation in their houses.
31.7% and 82.5% of rural and urban household respectively had improved drainage facility in the environment of their dwelling units.
Around 32% of rural households and 75.8% of urban household’s areas had some garbage disposal arrangement
Only 10.8% of urban dwelling units were situated in slum.