Indian households are eating better with an average calorie intake of 2,212 kilocalories in rural India and 2,240 Kcal in urban India in 2023-24. However, 11.7% households in rural areas and 10.2% in urban areas in 2023-24 had a daily calorie intake of less than 1,860 kcal.
“With an increase in the Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure (MPCE), the average calorie intake also increases in rural as well as urban India,” said the report on Nutritional Intake in India in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
It further found that there has been 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 India in 2023-24 from 2022-23.
However, there was a marked difference in average per capita per day calorie intake in the top 5% and bottom 5% fractile classes of MPCE. In 2023-24, the top 5% consumed 2,941 kcal on average compared to just 1,688 in the bottom 5% in rural areas. This difference was, however, lesser than that in 2022-23 when the top 5% consumed 3,116 kcal on average as against 1,607 kcal by the bottom 5%.
In 2023-24, in urban areas, the calorie intake of the top 5% was 3,092 kcal on average per day as against 1,696 kcal by the bottom 5% while in 2022-23, the top 5% consumed an average 3,478 kcal per day compared to 1,623 kcal by the bottom 5%.
The report by the National Statistics Office is based on the Household Consumption Expenditure Surveys. “Using the data on food consumption and utilising the nutrient content values of different food items, estimates of per day per capita and per day per consumer unit intake of calorie, protein and fat are presented in this report at various levels of disaggregation, namely, State, sector, fractile classes of MPCE, etc,” said the report.
It found that the average calorie intake in rural and urban households was almost the same in 2023-24 although urban households had slightly more protein intake and a markedly higher fat intake. In 2023-24, rural areas, the per capita per day average protein intake was 61.8 gram of protein and fat intake was 60.4 gram as against 63.4 gram of protein in urban areas and 69.8 gram fat. Cereals contributed 48% of the per capita per day intake in rural areas in 2023-24 compared to 40.6% in urban areas.
