Rural India Spends More on Tobacco Than Education: Troubling Report Reveals

• Rural Indian households allocate 4% of their total consumption expenditure to tobacco products, primarily gutkha, compared to just 2.5% on education.
• The Household Consumption and Expenditure Survey (HCES) data highlights a significant increase in tobacco consumption, with per capita spending rising by 58% in rural and 77% in urban India over the last decade.
• The number of tobacco-consuming households in rural India surged by 33% to 13.3 crore, while urban areas saw a 59% increase to 4.7 crore households.
• Gutkha consumption has seen a nearly six-fold increase in rural India, now accounting for 41% of all rural tobacco expenditure, with high prevalence in states like Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
• The survey reveals a strong link between poverty and tobacco use, with over 70% of the bottom 40% income group in rural India consuming tobacco, spending a higher proportion of their income on it.

Why It Matters: Rural India's higher spending on tobacco than education signals a critical public health and socio-economic challenge.