Story in Numbers: Sobering facts about alcohol use and abuse in India

Alcohol is consumed in every part of the country, including states with enforced prohibition. Moreover, alcohol use does not appear to be an exclusively male phenomenon. Although the prevalence of alcohol use among women is substantially lower than men, its use exists among women in almost all states.

Overall, about 5.2 per cent of the population aged 10-75 years (about 57 million individuals) need help for alcohol abuse (i.e., they consume alcohol in a harmful or dependent pattern).

In terms of absolute numbers, some states have a huge burden of people with alcohol dependence. About 75 per cent of people with alcohol addiction are from these 10 states.
 

More than 10 per cent of people in Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Arunachal Pradesh need help for alcohol abuse.

Tripura appears to be an outlier state, where 20.2 per cent of the general population aged 10-75 years is problem alcohol users.

It is also interesting to note that while the overall prevalence of the consumption of alcohol is lower in states where its use is prohibited according to law, a substantial proportion of alcohol users in these states fall in the category of ‘harmful’ or ‘dependent alcohol use’ (Gujarat: 30 per cent; Bihar: 16 per cent).

Source: Magnitude of substance abuse in India report, 2019

Commissioned by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

Survey by National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi in 2017 and 2018