Published Oct 08, 2026 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Oct 08, 2026 | 7:00 AM
In Telangana, Jangaon recorded the highest rate at 61.6 percent, followed by Jayashankar Bhupalapally at 56.6 percent.
Synopsis: Telangana has the highest reported alcohol consumption among men in South India, with 43.9 percent of men aged 15 and above reporting that they drink, while several districts record rates above 50 percent. Rural men report higher consumption than urban men across all five southern states, and Telangana also has the highest rate among women in the region at 7.1 percent.
On the eve of New Year in 2024, a man broke into a liquor store in Telangana’s Medak district. He removed roof tiles to enter the shop, disabled its CCTV cameras and collected cash from the drawers. Then he decided to have a drink. And another.
By the time staff of Kanakadurga Wines returned the next morning, the unidentified burglar was lying unconscious on the shop floor, with liquor bottles and cash scattered around him.
“We shut shop at 10 pm the previous night. When we opened at 10 am the next morning, we saw him lying unconscious. He had removed roof tiles for entry and taken money from the cash box. He was shifted to the hospital,” Narsing, the in-charge of the liquor shop, said in a video that went viral.
The burglar’s penchant for alcohol in the midst of a theft was seen as bizarre when the incident first came to light. But according to the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6) figures, 48 percent of men aged 15 and above in Medak reported consuming alcohol, making the district one of the higher-consuming districts in the region.
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The state average in Telangana is not far behind. Some 43.9 percent of men aged 15 and above in the state reported consuming alcohol—the highest rate among the southern states in the comparison. Tamil Nadu followed at 23.5 percent, Andhra Pradesh at 23.3 percent, Puducherry at 22.8 percent, Kerala at 22.7 percent and Karnataka at 15.6 percent.
The district-level figures show an even wider variation. In Telangana, Jangaon recorded the highest rate at 61.6 percent, followed by Jayashankar Bhupalapally at 56.6 percent, Warangal Rural at 56.5 percent and Yadadri Bhuvanagiri at 54.1 percent. Twenty-four Telangana districts recorded rates of at least 40 percent, while 32 recorded rates of 30 percent or more.
Outside Telangana, Alappuzha in Kerala had the highest district-level rate at 33.8 percent, followed by Thiruvarur in Tamil Nadu at 32.5 percent, Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh at 31.7 percent and Visakhapatnam at 31.5 percent.
Within Karnataka, Hassan recorded the highest rate at 26.6 percent, followed by Kodagu at 26.5 percent and Chikkamagaluru at 25.8 percent. Tamil Nadu showed considerable variation, with Thiruvarur at 32.5 percent, Dharmapuri at 30.9 percent, Mayiladuthurai at 30.8 percent and The Nilgiris at 29.4 percent.
In Kerala, Alappuzha led at 33.8 percent, followed by Kottayam at 31 percent, Idukki at 29.7 percent and Thrissur at 27.6 percent. Andhra Pradesh recorded its highest rates in Srikakulam at 31.7 percent, Visakhapatnam at 31.5 percent and Vizianagaram at 30 percent.
Hyderabad recorded 30.4 percent among men aged 15 and above, compared with 61.6 percent in Jangoan, 56.6 percent in Jayashankar Bhupalapally and 56.5 percent in Warangal Rural. Bengaluru Urban recorded 14.9 percent, Chennai 16 percent and Ernakulam, which includes Kochi, 26.9 percent.
In Tamil Nadu, Chennai’s 16 percent compared with 32.5 percent in Thiruvarur, 30.9 percent in Dharmapuri, 30.8 percent in Mayiladuthurai and 29.4 percent in The Nilgiris. In Kerala, Ernakulam’s 26.9 percent was below Alappuzha’s 33.8 percent, Kottayam’s 31 percent and Idukki’s 29.7 percent.
The differences were also pronounced in Andhra Pradesh: Visakhapatnam recorded 31.5 percent and Srikakulam 31.7 percent, compared with the state’s 23.3 percent
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Across all five southern states in the comparison, the share of men reporting alcohol consumption was higher in rural areas than in urban areas.
Telangana recorded the widest gap: 46.6 percent of rural men reported consuming alcohol, compared with 36.3 percent of urban men, a difference of 10.3 percentage points. Tamil Nadu recorded 26.7 percent among rural men and 19.7 percent among urban men, while the corresponding figures for Andhra Pradesh were 25.4 percent and 18.8 percent.
In Karnataka, 17.3 percent of rural men reported consuming alcohol, compared with 13.3 percent of urban men. Kerala had the narrowest gap, at 23.7 percent among rural men and 21.5 percent among urban men.
Nationally, 20.6 percent of rural men aged 15 and above reported consuming alcohol, compared with 15.5 percent of urban men. Among women, the corresponding figures were 1.4 percent and 0.5 percent.
The NFHS indicator measures whether respondents consume alcohol; it does not capture the quantity consumed or the frequency of drinking.
In Telangana, 7.1 percent of women aged 15 and above reported consuming alcohol, compared with 0.6 percent in Andhra Pradesh, 0.5 percent in Karnataka, 0.3 percent in Kerala, 0.3 percent in Tamil Nadu and 0.2 percent in Puducherry.
The rural-urban difference in Telangana was 5.8 percentage points: 8.6 percent of rural women reported consuming alcohol, compared with 2.8 percent of urban women.
The differences between Telangana districts were also substantial. Nine districts recorded rates of 10 percent or more. Nagarkurnool had the highest rate at 15.6 percent, followed by Medak at 15.2 percent, Kamareddy at 13.8 percent, Mahabubnagar at 13.1 percent, Ranga Reddy at 12.9 percent, Wanaparthy at 12.8 percent, Vikarabad at 12.7 percent, Narayanpet at 11 percent and Nizamabad at 10.9 percent.
Outside Telangana, the highest district-level rate among women was 2.8 percent in Visakhapatnam, followed by Chikkamagaluru at 2.1 percent and Raichur at 1.8 percent.
Among the major cities, 1.1 percent of women in Hyderabad reported consuming alcohol, compared with 0.1 percent in Bengaluru Urban, 0.5 percent in Chennai and 0.4 percent in Ernakulam.
The national figures put Telangana near the top of the distribution. Arunachal Pradesh recorded the highest proportion of men aged 15 and above reporting alcohol consumption at 50.5 percent, followed by Telangana at 43.9 percent, Sikkim at 42.2 percent, Chhattisgarh at 38.3 percent and Jharkhand at 33.6 percent.
Among women, Arunachal Pradesh again recorded the highest rate at 23.2 percent, followed by Sikkim at 19.9 percent, Telangana at 7.1 percent, Tripura at 6 percent and Assam at 5.8 percent.
The national rates were 18.9 percent among men and 1.1 percent among women.
Telangana therefore ranked second among states for men and third for women in the figures presented here. Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, which ranked ahead of Telangana in both comparisons, have substantially smaller populations.
The NFHS-5 and NFHS-6 figures do not show a substantial statewide change in reported alcohol consumption in Telangana.
Among men, the proportion reporting alcohol consumption rose from 43.4 percent in NFHS-5 to 43.9 percent in NFHS-6. Among women, it increased from 6.7 percent to 7.1 percent.
The district-level changes were mixed. Of the 29 Telangana districts with comparable NFHS-5 data, the reported rate among men increased in 11, declined in 14 and was unchanged in four.
Karimnagar recorded the largest decline, with the male rate falling by 9.4 percentage points. The rate fell by 8.3 points in Kumuram Bheem Asifabad, 7.9 points in Medchal Malkajgiri and 7.6 points in Sangareddy. Khammam recorded the largest increase, at five percentage points.
The NFHS indicator measures the proportion of men and women aged 15 and above who report consuming alcohol. It does not measure the quantity consumed or how frequently respondents drink. The figures therefore measure reported prevalence, not the intensity or harmfulness of alcohol use.
The data are also self-reported. The NFHS documents caution that estimates for women in the range of 0.1 percent to 0.5 percent may be based on very few reported cases.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
