The difference in daily per capita calorie intake between India’s top and bottom 5 per cent of consumers narrowed in 2023-24, with the former eating fewer calories and the latter increasing their intake. In 2023-24, the top 5 per cent of Indians urban areas, as measured by their Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure (MPCE), consumed 3,092 kilocalories (Kcal) per day, 82.3 per cent more than the 1,696 Kcal of the bottom 5 per cent, according to nutritional intake data based on the statistics ministry’s latest Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES). In 2022-23, the difference was 114.3 per cent.
In rural India, the daily calorie intake of the top 5 per cent was 2,941 Kcal, 74.2 per cent higher than that of the bottom 5 per cent’s 1,688 Kcal. In 2022-23, the difference was 93.9 per cent.
“The difference between the bottom fractile class (bottom 5 per cent of population ranked by per capita expenditure level) and the top fractile class (top 5 per cent of population ranked by per capita expenditure level) in per capita calorie intake as well as per consumer unit calorie intake has narrowed significantly in 2023-24 in rural as well as urban India,” the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) said on Wednesday.
Overall, the daily per capita calorie intake in rural India in 2023-24 was down 0.9 per cent from 2022-23 at 2,212 Kcal, while that in urban areas was 0.4 per cent lower at 2,240 Kcal.
Compared to 2011-12, the daily per capita calorie consumption in urban areas was 1.5 per cent higher in 2023-24, although it was down 0.9 per cent in rural areas. However, MoSPI cautioned that the HCES conducted in 2022-23 and 2023-24 had undergone some changes compared to the previous ones, including an increase in the number of items covered to 405 from 347 in 2011-12, changes in the questionnaire, multiple visits for data collection, and household interviews being moved from pen-and-paper mode to computer-assisted. These changes, MoSPI said, must be kept in mind while comparing the results from the 2022-23 and 2023-24 HCES with previous surveys.
Cutting down fat
The narrowing of the gap in daily per capita calorie intake between the top and bottom 5 per cent in both rural and urban areas was primarily a result of lower consumption by the top 5 per cent and an increase in intake by the bottom 5 per cent. According to the MoSPI data, the calorie intake of the top 5 per cent of Indians in urban regions fell by as much as 11.1 per cent in 2023-24 from 2022-23. The reduction in calorie intake of the top 5 per cent in rural areas was 5.6 per cent.
Meanwhile, the bottom 5 per cent saw their daily calorie intake rise by 5 per cent in rural areas and 4.5 per cent in urban areas.
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Interestingly, Indians in urban areas reduced their daily consumption of fat in 2023-24 to 69.8 grams (gm) from 70.5 gm in 2022-23, while those in rural areas increased it to 60.4 gm from 59.7 gm.
Protein intake, meanwhile, was largely steady. In rural areas, the daily per capita protein intake in 2023-24 was 61.8 gm as against 61.9 gm in 2022-23. The intake was higher in urban areas at 63.4 gm, marginally up from 63.2 gm in 2022-23.
This marks a departure from the situation in 2011-12, when daily per capita protein intake was slightly higher in rural India than urban. In 2011-12, the average daily protein intake was 60.3 gm in urban areas and 60.7 gm in rural areas.
The increase in fat intake, meanwhile, has been much higher. In 2011-12, the daily per capita fat intake in rural areas was 46.1 gm, which rose 31 per cent to 60.4 gm in 2023-24. In urban India, the increase in the fat intake was much lower at 20.3 per cent from 58 gm to 69.8 gm.