According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6) 2023-24 released recently by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, women in rural areas drink more alcohol than women in urban areas. Besides, there has also been a slight decline in the rate of alcohol drinking among women. At the same time, men living in rural areas also consume more alcohol. Whereas in Arunachal Pradesh, the rate of alcohol consumption among both men and women has been recorded as the highest in the country.
According to the survey, there has been a slight decline in the rate of alcohol consumption among women aged 15 years and above across the country. Compared to the previous survey (NFHS-5, 2019-21), the alcohol drinking rate of women has fallen to 1.1 percent, whereas in the NFHS-5 report this rate was 1.3 percent. In the new survey, while only 0.5 percent women drink alcohol in urban areas, this rate has reached 1.4 percent in rural areas.
Alcohol consumption is high in the village
Men drink much more alcohol than women. The rate of alcohol drinking has also increased among men. While in the NFHS-5 report, 18.7 percent men across the country drank alcohol, in the new report this rate has increased to 18.9 percent. In comparison to urban areas (15.5), 20.6 percent of men in rural areas drink alcohol.
However, there has been a decline in the rate of women consuming tobacco. In comparison to 8.9 percent in the previous survey, only 8.4 percent women are consuming tobacco. But in rural areas this rate is 10 percent. 36.3 percent men consume tobacco, of which more than 41 percent are people living in rural areas.
Every second citizen here is an alcoholic
According to the survey of NFHS-6, the maximum amount of alcohol is consumed in the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh compared to other states of the country. Here 50.5 percent of men aged 15 years and above consume alcohol. This is the highest rate compared to all states and union territories. However, this time there is a slight decline in comparison to the previous survey. In NFHS-5, about 52.6 percent people drank alcohol.
According to the survey, women aged 15 years and above in Arunachal Pradesh drink the most alcohol. Arunachal Pradesh has recorded the highest rate of alcohol consumption in the country (23.2 percent). This figure is slightly less than the previous survey’s 24.2 percent, but is still much higher than the national average.
New data from NFHS-6 shows that at the national level the rate of alcohol consumption is only 18.9 percent among men and 1.1 percent among women. After Arunachal Pradesh, Telangana (43.9%) comes next in terms of maximum alcohol consumption among men. Then come Sikkim (42.2%), Chhattisgarh (38.3%) and Jharkhand (33.6%). In rural areas of Telangana, 46.6 percent men drink alcohol.
Whereas among women, Sikkim is next after Arunachal Pradesh. Here 19.9 percent women drink alcohol. After this comes Telangana (7.1%), Tripura (6.0%) and Assam (5.8%).
Alcohol consumption decreased in Goa
The rate of alcohol consumption has declined in Goa, which is considered a favorite state for tourists. Compared to the previous survey, the rate of drinking of alcohol by women has come down by more than half. The rate of alcohol drinking among women aged 15 years and above in the NFHS-5 survey was 5.5 percent, but in the new survey this rate reduced by half to 2.1 percent. In the previous survey, 36.8 percent men drank alcohol, while in the new survey only 22.4 percent men drank alcohol.
This survey was conducted by the Mumbai-based International Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS), and it included about 679,000 families from 715 districts of the country.
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