This paper attempts to show that the rich data on demographic, health and background characteristics of respondents and their households collected in the National Family Health Survey can profitably be analysed at the regional level. It checks the validity of estimates for a few variables derived for 76 natural regions from the survey data with similar estimates based on the 1991 Census. After ensuring consistency between these estimates, regional variations in many important socio-economic characteristics - for which the NFHS is at present the only source - are studied through maps generated from a GIS software. The spatial patterns that emerge from this analysis highlight the limitations of state-specific models of demographic change, and provide some interesting evidence on much debated nexus between poverty, malnutrition and disease. The paper concludes with a presentation of survey data on health and living conditions in the slums of Delhi.