A method for contextually aware determination respiration includes obtaining, by an electronic device, context information and selecting, by the electronic device, a set of sensor data associated with respiratory activity of a subject, based on the context information. The method further includes selecting, based on the selected set of sensor data, an algorithm from a plurality of algorithms for determining a respiration rate of the subject, and determining, by applying the selected algorithm to the selected set of sensor data associated with respiratory activity of the subject, the respiration rate for the subject.