Archive · 21 Jan 2026
Rising Tobacco Consumption in India
The Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023-24 shows that more people in India, especially those in poorer households, are using tobacco.
This is a big problem because tobacco is bad for health and can cause serious diseases.
The survey found that the number of households using tobacco has gone up a lot in both rural and urban areas.
In rural areas, gutkha is the most popular tobacco product, while in cities, cigarettes are more common.
The poorest households spend a bigger part of their money on tobacco than richer households.
This is worrying because it means more people might get sick, and the government will have to spend more on healthcare.
The government needs to do more to stop people from using tobacco, like making it more expensive and stopping ads that promote it.
Tobacco consumption in India has risen significantly, with a 58% increase in rural areas and a 77% increase in urban areas, adjusted for inflation.
The number of households consuming tobacco has increased by 33% in rural areas and 59% in urban areas over the past decade.
Gutkha consumption has surged, particularly in rural areas, with 30.4% of rural households now consuming it, up from 5.3% in 2011-12.
Tobacco use is highest among the poorest households, with over 70% of the bottom 40% income group in rural areas consuming tobacco.
The rising tobacco use poses a risk to the financial sustainability of publicly funded healthcare schemes like Ayushman Bharat.
- Who
- Poorer households in rural and urban India
- What
- Rising tobacco consumption, particularly gutkha
- When
- Between 2011-12 and 2023-24
- Where
- Across rural and urban India, with higher concentrations in central and northeastern states
- Why
- Increased affordability, aggressive marketing, and lack of regulatory oversight
- Survey
- Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2023-24
- Inflation-adjusted increase in rural tobacco spending
- 58%
- Inflation-adjusted increase in urban tobacco spending
- 77%
- Rural households consuming tobacco
- 68.6%
- Urban households consuming tobacco
- 45.6%
- Rural households consuming gutkha
- 30.4%
- Urban households consuming gutkha
- 16.8%
- Annual deaths due to tobacco
- 13 lakh
- Ayushman Bharat cards issued
- 42 crore
- Government health expenditure share
- 48% (FY2022)
