RESULTS OF SURVEY ON AYUSH (July 2022 to June 2023) Released

Key Findings on Ayush Awareness and Usage

**Posted On: 13 JUN 2024

– **Awareness:**
– 95% of rural respondents and 96% of urban respondents are aware of Ayush.
– At least one member in 85% of rural households and 86% of urban households knows about Medicinal Plants, Home remedies, Local Health Traditions, or Folk medicine.

– **Usage:**
– 46% of rural individuals and 53% of urban individuals used Ayush for prevention or treatment of ailments in the past year.
– Ayurveda is the most commonly used system in both rural and urban areas.
– Ayush is mainly used for rejuvenation and preventive measures.

**Introduction**

The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) conducted the first all-India survey on Ayush from July 2022 to June 2023 as part of the 79th round of the National Sample Survey (NSS). This survey covered the entire Indian Union, excluding a few inaccessible villages in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Data was collected from 1,81,298 households, with 1,04,195 in rural areas and 77,103 in urban areas.

**Survey Objectives**

The survey aimed to collect information on:
– Awareness of traditional healthcare systems (Ayush),
– Use of Ayush for preventing or treating ailments,
– Knowledge of home remedies, medicinal plants, and local health traditions or folk medicine.

The survey also gathered information on household expenditure on Ayush treatments. The results are available on the Ministry’s website ([www.mospi.gov.in](http://www.mospi.gov.in)).

**Sample Design**

A stratified multi-stage sampling design was used, with villages in rural areas and urban frame survey (UFS) blocks in urban areas as the first stage units (FSU). The ultimate stage units (USU) were households in both sectors. Simple Random Sampling Without Replacement (SRSWOR) was used to select FSUs and households.

**Conceptual Framework**

For the survey, ‘awareness’ and ‘use’ of Ayush were defined as follows:

– A household member aged 15 or older is “aware of Ayush” if they have:
– Taken Ayush treatment anytime, with or without a prescription,
– Heard about any Ayush system (Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa/Amchi, Homoeopathy) from family, friends, medical practitioners, media, research articles, etc.,
– Knowledge of medicinal plants, home remedies, or traditional practices for treatment or prevention,
– Worked in Ayush healthcare as a practitioner, midwife, masseur, pharmacist, yoga instructor, or therapist.

– ‘Use of Ayush system of medicines’ means using Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa, or Homoeopathy for treatment or prevention of diseases based on a medical practitioner’s advice or self-treatment knowing the benefits.

**Major Findings:**

1. **Awareness of Ayush:**
– About 95% of males and females aged 15 and above in rural India are aware of Ayush.
– In urban India, about 96% of individuals aged 15 and above are aware of Ayush.
– Awareness by gender at the all-India level is illustrated in Figure 1 (not included here).

About 79% of households in rural India and about 80% of the households in urban India have at least one member aware about medicinal plants and home medicines, while around 24% of the households have at least one member aware about folk medicine or local health tradition in both rural and urban India.

2.Use of Ayush:

Use of Ayush for prevention or treatment of ailments, during last 365 days has been observed to be more in urban areas than the rural areas. Figure 2 below depicts estimates of percentage of persons who have used Ayush for prevention or treatment of ailments, during last 365 days.

Both in rural and urban India, Ayurveda have been preferred over other systems of Ayush for prevention or treatment of ailments.

It has also been observed that Ayush has been mostly used for rejuvenation or preventive purpose followed by therapeutic or curative treatment.

3. Expenditure incurred for availing treatment of Ayush:

Estimates of average expenditure incurred per person for prevention or treatment of ailments using Ayush during the last 365 days for rural and urban India are given in Table 2.

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