‘3 percent of children have lost one or both parents’

Srinagar: In Jammu and Kashmir, about three-fourth of all households are in rural areas and 24 percent of the population is under 15 years of age, the National Health and Family Survey (NHFS) has reported.
The survey found that 93 percent population in J&K has Aadhaar cards and 22 percent of the population has never attended school.
“In Jammu & Kashmir, nearly three-fourths (72%) of the households are in rural areas. On average, households have 4.8 members. Six percent of households are headed by women, with 5 percent of the population living in female-headed households. Sixty-six percent of households in Jammu & Kashmir have household heads who are Muslim,” it said.
“Thirty-two percent of households have household heads who are Hindu, and 3 percent of households have household heads who are Sikh,” the data says.
“Eleven percent (11%) of households in Jammu & Kashmir have household heads who belong to scheduled caste (SC), 9 percent belong to other backward castes, and 72 percent of household heads do not belong to a scheduled caste, a scheduled tribe, or other backward class. The majority of households (62%) are nuclear, but 38 percent of the population reside in non-nuclear households,” it says.
“The overall sex ratio of the population is 948 females per 1,000 males, and the sex ratio of the population under seven years of age is lower at 946 females per 1,000 males. Ninety-three percent of persons have an Aadhaar card,” it added.
The survey said that 3 percent of children aged below 18 years have lost one or both parents.
96 percent of children below 18 years of age live with both parents, 3 percent live with one parent (mostly with their mother), and the remaining 1 percent live with neither parent.
“Births of almost all children under five years of age (95%) were registered with the civil authorities, and 81 percent of children have a birth certificate,” it said.
—KNO

KR Desk