More Indians eating non-veg than before: Health survey data

More Indians are eating non-vegetarian food than ever before, according to the recent National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data.

An overwhelming 83.4 per cent of men and 70.6 per cent of women in the 15-49 age group in the country eat non-vegetarian food daily, weekly or occasionally, shows a NFHS data analysis by The Indian Express.

Proportion of Indian men who eat non vegetarian food has gone up sharply in the six years between 2015-16 and 2019-21.

In the previous round of the survey, it was 78.4% of men in the country who eat non vegetarian food daily, weekly or occasionally.

The proportion of weekly meat eaters too has risen sharply, Indian Express reported.

57.3 per cent men and 45.1 per cent women reported eating fish, chicken or meat at least once a week, according to NFHS survey.

The category of non-vegetarian men is the highest in Lakshadweep (98.4 per cent) and the lowest (14.1 per cent) in Rajasthan in 2019-21. Other regions in the top list are Andaman & Nicobar Islands (96.1%), Goa (93.8%), Kerala (90.1%) and Puducherry (89.9%).

Christian men and women accounted for the highest consumption of non-vegetarian food – 80 per cent men and 78% for women in the 15-49 age group.

Muslim men and women accounted for the second highest consumption of non-vegetarian food – 79.5 % men and 70.2 % for women in the 15-49 age group.

The corresponding numbers for other religious groups stood at: Hindu men: 52.5%, women: 40.7%; Sikh men: 19.5%, women: 7.9%; Buddhist/Neo-Buddhist men: 74.1%, women: 62.2%; and Jain men 14.9%, women: 4.3%.