Milk product intake rises as cereal, pulse consumption dips: Govt report

Intake of cereals and pulses came down in both rural and urban areas, while consumption of milk and its products showed an increase in 2023-24, according to a government report.

The Household Consumption Expenditure Surveys (HCES) conducted during August 2022 July 2023 and August 2023 July 2024 showed that the consumption of egg, fish and meat has gone up in rural areas, though it remained the same in urban areas.

The study showed the proportion of cereals in the consumption has decreased from 38.8 per cent in 2022-23 to 38.7 per cent in 2023-24 in urban areas.

In the case of rural India, the proportion has decreased from 46.9 per cent to 45.9 per cent.

For pulses, the proportion of consumption declined from 9.6 per cent to 9.1 per cent in urban areas and from 8.8 per cent to 8.7 per cent in rural areas.

On the other hand, the proportion of milk and its products in the diet in urban areas increased from 12.8 per cent to 12.9 per cent, while in rural areas it rose from 10.6 per cent to 11 per cent.

As regards eggs, fish and meat, the proportion in the diet rose from 12.3 per cent to 12.4 per cent in rural areas while it has remained at the same level at 14.1 per cent in urban areas.

The proportion of 'other food' items rose from 21.4 per cent to 22 per cent in rural areas and 24.8 per cent to 25.3 per cent cities.

The study showed that the average per capita per day calorie intake in rural India was 2233 Kcal and 2212 Kcal in rural India 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively, while the corresponding figures for the two years in urban India were 2250 Kcal and 2240 Kcal, respectively.

An increase in average per capita per day and per consumer unit per day calorie intake is observed for the bottom five fractile classes in rural India and for the bottom six fractile classes for urban in 2023-24 from 2022-23.

A wide variation both in average per capita per day calorie intake and average per consumer unit per day calorie intake is observed among the major states in 2022-23 as well as in 2023-24.

With an increase in the Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure (MPCE), the average calorie intake also increases in rural as well as urban India.