The low birth weight is an index of our status of public health in general and of maternal health and nutrition in particular. This is a hospital based study conducted in district hospital at Hazaribagh, Jharkhand in the month from January – October 2015. All pregnant mothers who delivered babies in district hospital were included in the study. All data interpretation and statistics were done manually and using Microsoft excel. Total live birth in the study group was 98.50%. The prevalence of Low birth weight in this study was found to be 32.83%. Newborns who received breast feed in the first hour of delivery were 99.60%. The prevalence of LBW is much higher than the national level data and also NFHS 3 report data.

Keywords : Low birth weight, prevalence