Odisha Among States With High Consumption Of Alcohol & Tobacco: NFHS Survey

New Delhi: Alcohol use among men and women is higher in rural India than in urban India. In general, 1% of women aged 15 and up consume alcohol, compared to 19% of men in the same age group. These are the findings of the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5), 2019-21

Odisha is among the states with a higher proportion, 40% and above, of alcohol consumption among men aged 15 years. The other states in this category are Telangana, Arunachal Pradesh, the upper Brahmaputra region of Assam, a few districts in Jharkhand and Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, and the Chhota Nagpur region of Jharkhand. Some of Odisha’s districts are also among the places where a 30-40 per cent level of alcohol consumption is found. The others in this category are Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura. A lower level (below 30%) of alcohol consumption is observed in the remaining parts of the states in India, according to NFHS-5, 2019-21.

Only 1 per cent of women drink alcohol, compared with 19 per cent of men. Drinking alcohol is more common among
women from scheduled tribes (6%) than from any other caste/tribe group. Among men, alcohol use is higher among those belonging to other religions (47%), those with no schooling (30%), scheduled tribes (33%), and those aged 35-49 (27%). Alcohol use among women aged 15 and over is highest in Arunachal Pradesh (24%) and Sikkim (16%).
Alcohol use among men is highest in Arunachal Pradesh (53%) and Telangana (43%) and is the lowest in Lakshadweep
(0.4%).

Odisha is also among the states in which the percentage of men aged 15 years and above who use any kind of tobacco exceeds 40 per cent. Other states in this category are most parts of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Northeastern states, the northern part of Maharashtra, western Gujarat, and southern Rajasthan. The use of tobacco is also high (30–40%) in Ladakh, Uttarakhand, most parts of Maharashtra, Karnataka, northern parts of Rajasthan, and northwestern Gujarat. A lower prevalence of tobacco use (below 30 per cent) is mostly observed in Punjab and southern states, except in central parts of Karnataka.