Maternal healthcare expenses push 46.6% mothers in India into poverty – with the illiterate being especially susceptible – according to this December 2016 study by researchers from Jawaharlal Nehru University and Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. The expenses include childbirth, antenatal care and postnatal care expenses. Catastrophic expenditure is greater than or equal to 40% of a household’s non-subsistence income, i.e. income available after basic needs have been met, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The threshold of 40% can differ according to countries, said the WHO; the 2016 study has analysed the data at two thresholds: 10% and 40%. As many as 63% households nationwide had a catastrophic maternal health expenditure of 40%, the study – which analysed data from the National Sample Survey Office – found. Among states and union territories (UTs), 65.7% households (among those where a woman had delivered) in Telangana were pushed into poverty – more than any other state/UT – due to childbearing expenses, followed by Chhattisgarh (53.7%) and Puducherry (53.4%).

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