The women of Assam, the land of Sati Joymati and Mula Gabharu, have set an undesirable record. A central government survey has revealed that Assam’s women have the highest alcohol consumption rate in India. Even though it may sound surprising, the percentage of women consuming alcohol in Assam is the highest in the country. This concerning statistic has been made public by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
According to a recent survey conducted by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the national average for alcohol consumption among women aged 15-49 is 1.2%. However, in contrast to this national figure, Assam’s female alcohol consumption rate stands at 16.5%. In simple terms, Assam’s women hold the top position in the country when it comes to alcohol consumption. Meghalaya follows Assam in this list, with 8.7% of its women consuming alcohol. This means that the percentage of women drinking alcohol in Assam is nearly double that of Meghalaya, a tribal-dominated state.
Arunachal Pradesh ranks third on this list, with only 3.3% of its women aged 15-49 consuming alcohol regularly. However, in contrast to its women, Arunachal Pradesh has the highest male alcohol consumption rate in the country, with 59% of men drinking regularly. The central government’s survey has published a list of female alcohol consumption rates in various states across the country.
Following Assam, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim ranks next, with a female alcohol consumption rate of 0.3%. Similarly, in Chhattisgarh, the percentage of women consuming alcohol is just 0.2%. Previously, the female alcohol consumption rates in Jharkhand and Tripura were 9.9% and 9.6%, respectively, but these figures have now dropped to 0.9% in Jharkhand and 0.8% in Tripura. However, this survey by the central government does not include corporate-investment-heavy states like Delhi, Maharashtra, and Karnataka.