Fewer Indians use tobacco, but India still world's no 2 consumer, producer

Mizoram tops the north-east list, with 80.4% men between 15 and 49 years of age consuming tobacco

Fewer Indians used tobacco in 2015-16 than a decade ago, but only China consumes and produces more tobacco, keeping cancer rates high, according to the latest national health data.

Tobacco consumption in India is the highest in the six north-eastern states of Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura and Assam: On average, 70.7% men here use tobacco in some form or the other, according to data from the National Family Health Survey 2015-16 (NFHS-4). This figure is 26 percentage points higher than the national average.

Mizoram tops the