Bhubaneswar: Though India was declared Open Defecation Free by the government in 2019, the latest NFHS survey sows that 19% of households in the country do not use any toilet facility.
As per the data of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) conducted in 2018-19, access to a toilet facility is lowest in Bihar (62%), followed by Jharkhand (70%) and Odisha (71%).
The survey found that 6% of urban households and 26% of rural households defecated in the open. Of the states with open defecation among urban households, Odisha led with 18.5%, followed by Bihar with 11.6% and Maharashtra with 11.4%.
Similarly in case of rural households, Bihar led with 43.9%, followed by Jharkhand with 41% and Odisha with 37%.
The survey also revealed that 11% of urban households use a shared facility, compared with 7% of rural households.
However, the report said the percentage of households practising open defecation decreased from 39% in 2015-16 to 19% in 2019-21.
The NFHS-5 found that 69% of households use an improved sanitation facility that is not shared with other households and 8% use a facility that would be considered improved if it was not shared.
Access to a toilet facility ranges from 69% among scheduled tribe (ST) households to 93% among households which are not scheduled caste, scheduled tribe, or other backward class households, the surveys report stated.
